


Nothing

by Arethereanydamnusernamesleft



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Barely Legal, Blow Jobs, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Dates, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Health Relapse, No laws are broken!, Peter is 16 but legal, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prostate Massage, Requited Love, Rimming, Suicide Attempt, Therapy, They are legal by US law, Triggers, legal loop-holes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 09:53:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16490384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arethereanydamnusernamesleft/pseuds/Arethereanydamnusernamesleft
Summary: What if Tony’s words after the ferry incident had cut a little deeper? What if Peter too believes he’s nothing without the suit, and with it... well, that gets people hurt. So what’s the point of even existing?There will be triggers! Lots of triggers. Check the notes and warnings before reading. This is going to be a really ansgty-fic and something I’ve written mainly as an exercise of fitting a happy ending onto all this shit. But there will be a happy ending.





	1. Chapter 1 - Where's Peter?

**Author's Note:**

> While I’ve kept as close as possible to the Home-Coming plot line, I’ve rather disregarded the fall out from Civil War by including Banner as his expertise was needed.

_“ls everyone okay?”_

_“No thanks to you.”_

_“Do you know I was the only one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was crazy to recruit a 14-year-old kid.”_

_“What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? Because that’s on you. And if you died… …I feel like that’s on me. - I don’t need that on my conscience…”_

_“Sorry doesn’t cut it.”_

_“I just wanted to be like you.”_

_“And I wanted you to be better. It’s not working out. I’m gonna need the suit back.”_

_“For how long?”_

_“Forever. - Yeah, that’s how it works.”_

_“No, no. Please.”_

_“Let’s have it.”_

_“Please, this is all I have. I’m nothing without this suit.”_

_“If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.”_

-o0o-

“Boss, I’ve intercepted a few calls you should know about,” Friday said as Tony worked on a damaged repulsor which had begun to lose efficiency while he’d been welding that damn ferry.

“What is it?”

“May Parker, Boss. She’s back on the line currently trying to talk to an admin assistant in HR.”

“Jesus, he’s got his aunt to call – that sounds a bit desperate.”

“Mrs Parker is attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of her nephew.”

“I’m guessing he’s not told her he lost his cover-internship,” Tony muttered, grabbing a tool to pull out the faulty chip.

“Mrs Parker has not seen Peter since the evening of the ferry incident and is concerned about his safety.”

Tony dropped his tool immediately. “That was two days ago… Put her through.”

“-just want to know if he’s contacted you. And yes I’ve called the police but they say-“

“May, it’s Tony,” he interrupted as the line cut over to him.

“Oh, thank God. Do you know where he is? I’m tearing my hair out with worry.”

“He’s not been in contact – what happened?”

“He came home dejected. He’d done so well with his therapy that he’d been great for 6 months then he came home and he looked like he was back to square one,” May sobbed.

“I yelled at him, accused him of lying to be about sneaking out he told me he’d screwed up the internship. He went to his room and I went to check on him half an hour later and he’d gone and left his phone behind… I’ve tried the police but they’re not interested – I’d called them all hysterical on the day of that ferry disaster because I couldn’t reach him, so now they think I’m crying wolf.”

“Okay, May, calm down. We’ll find him… but what do you mean ‘his therapy’?”

“Oh… After Ben died Peter suffered quite serious depression. He didn’t handle Ben’s death well, especially the circumstances – Ben was killed in a burglary and Pete found the body.”

“I’m sorry, May. I didn’t know,” Tony said leaning on the bench and closing his eyes.

“Look could you call the police for me? Make them believe me?”

“Yes, and I’m gonna find him myself – okay? I promise I’ll find him.”

“Thank you, thank you. Please if you find anything out, please, please call me as soon as you can… The last words I said to him were ‘You smell like garbage’. I don’t know what I’ll do if anything happens to him.”

“I’ll keep you updated and I’ll have him home soon. I promise.”

After Tony disconnected the call he called out for Friday.

“Friday, can you locate Peter?”

“The locators were in his suit, Boss.” Tony looked over to the corner of the lab where he’d thrown Spider-Man suit in anger a couple of days ago.

“But he had locators in his web-caster’s too.”

“They were upgraded as part of his suit. Therefore Karen asked him to remove them when he handed over the suit.”

“Ah, shit.”

“Okay – Start scanning for him. Internet connected CCTV footage – prioritise locales around cheap hotels and hostels – the kid can’t have much money. Check social media, police reports – anything. Have Pepper contact the police and contact any of the still-friendly Avengers in the area and see if they’re up for a scouting party.”

Tony called for his suit and headed out to find his erstwhile protégé.

6 hours later it was dark and he was still circling the city. From time to time he’d pass one of his suits that was on a standard search pattern, just in case the Peter was out on the street. He was just about the give and leave it to the tech when a call came through.

“Tony, it’s Rhodey – I’ve got a lead. Some homeless guys have seen a kid matching Pete’s description under a bridge near the NYCT Jamaica Yard Facility.”

“I’m on it. Thanks, Rhodey.” 

It took Tony a few sweeps of the area before he found a heat signature tucked under one of the lower bridges, huddled up against the wall and a bridge strut.

Tony landed and walked under with Friday lighting up the area for him. He noted the rubble and discarded rubbish, it looked like even the homeless had abandoned this location some time ago.

And there, fast asleep with his head on his back-pack and coat tight around him, was Peter.

Tony sighed a breath of relief as Friday confirmed his vitals were strong.

“Friday, call off the search,” Tony said

He retracted his helmet and knelt down on one knee in front of the boy.

He sniffed and sucked his teeth for a moment. Now he knew the kid was safe the fear had gone and left him with annoyance… No, no… Actually it was anger. Jesus, he was gonna give this kid a rocket.

“Hey, douchebag! Wake up, you’ve got half the Avengers and the NYPD out looking for your dumb ass.”

Peter’s eyes slowly cracked open and Tony just saw the moment his pupils constricted and the kid focused before he was leaping backwards, pushing the back pack between them as he hit the wall behind him in an effort to flee.

Tony stood and stared at the kid. He looked terrified and was clearly looking for the best way out from where Tony was hemming him in.

“You look like shit, Kid.” And he did. The teen’s clothes were covered in dark brown stains and his face was drawn and grey. His eyes looked bloodshot and wide.

The kid made a bolt to his left, stumbling on the rubble under the bridge. Tony side stepped and charged his repulsor in warning. He’d never hurt the kid, just scare him. 

“You’re not going anywhere until I find out what’s going on,” Tony said.

Peter paused and looked at him, his eyes empty. Then down at the repulsor.

“Have you been doing drugs?” Tony asked incredulously, taking in the darkened bags under the teen’s eyes.

Peter laughed as though Tony has asked him something funny.

“I tried. Turns out Spider-Man went and busted most of the dealers in this part of town. Too hard to get a hold of in recent months,” Peter held his palms at the irony.

“I’ll see ya, Mister Stark,” Peter said and tried to walk away.

“What? You not scared of me blasting you with this repulsor?” Tony asked.

“Not really,” Peter said and kept walking.

“You think I won’t do it?” Tony asked but Peter didn’t stop.

Tony targeted a clump of concrete in Peter’s path and blasted it, covering Peter with concrete dust. When the dust cleared Peter was looking at him with an eerie calmness.

“It’s not that I don’t think you will, it’s just I don’t care if you do. Go home, Mister Stark,” Peter said and carried on walking.

Tony dropped his hand shock and jogged up to block Peter’s path again.

“What’s going on with you, Pete?” Tony asked, reaching out for Peter’s shoulder. Peter dodged the contact and looked away. This close he could see more detail, the kid’s hollowed cheeks and his breath caught when he looked again at the large brown stains on the kid’s clothes. It looked like dried blood. No. NO!

“You’ve not felt like doing anything stupid have you?” Tony .

The strangely amused twist of Peter’s mouth was back.

“Stupid? No not stupid. I’ve tried to get rid of the problem, but thanks to that spider bite I’ve not figured out the best way to do that yet.”

“What do you mean?”

Peter tried to move around him again, but Tony kept blocking him. Peter sighed and looked at him.

“I heal too quickly to finish the job, okay?” Peter said, showing his wrists, long, deep pink scars running up from each wrist up along each forearm. “I pass out from blood loss then wake up because my spider-abilities have cursed me with fast clotting, healing and super-fast blood replenishment. All those times kids have pulled the legs off spiders and watched them limp away, that’s what’s been going on – go figure.”

“Jesus Peter.”

“Same goes for airway constriction and blood oxygen levels, I guess,” Peter said.

Tony’s eyes flicked to Peters neck to see the abrasions on his throat just peeking out over his shirt collar. Peter cast an unconscious glance upwards and Tony followed to see the two types of cord and a thick rope hanging from the bridge struts.

“Alcohol poisoning and pill over-dosing doesn’t work either – and let me tell you, projectile-vomit spider-bile is revolting,” Peter said with a self-depreciating laugh. “Who knew I had that skill, huh?”

Tony stared at the boy in shock.

“Was kinda working up to the next one – I considered a subway splat,” making an impact gesture with his fist and palm. “But I always heard that it fucks up the drivers so…” He trailed off for a moment and when Tony just stared at him in disbelief he kept talking.

“Starvation seems a bit slow, so I was gonna try water, but there’s not any round here and that time you pulled me from the river… it didn’t feel like it was the best way to go. I’m kinda running out of ideas. But spiders can die like that can’t they? – When you wash them down the sink?”

Tony lurched forward, grabbing the boy around the shoulders and held him tightly. Peter immediately started pushing him away. Even though clearly weakened, the kid was much stronger than him, even with the suit. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t run,” Tony begged, clinging on as hard as he could.

Peter fought for a few more seconds then sagged a little before he heard it. A sob.

“Come back with me. Please,” Tony begged into Peter’s filthy hair. “We can make this better. I promise.”

Peter started pushing again. “I can’t go home.”

“Come home with me, then!” Tony said, fighting to keep hold. “Stay with me.”

Peter succeeded in pushing Tony off him and he staggered back.

“It’s okay, Tony – It’s really better this way.”

“No… NO! Come back with me!”

“And do what? Be your intern?” Peter said with a laugh.

“How about my friend?”

“We’ve never had a friendship!” Peter scoffed.

“I realise that… stupidly… belatedly… And I made a really shit father-figure… so how about you give me a try at being your friend?”

Peter shook his head. “Give me one good reason?”

“I could give you a hundred and you wouldn’t believe me right now, so how about this one - It’s early March and your closest water is probably the East River. That water is going to be close to freezing and that’s gonna feel like being stabbed a thousand times, inside and out… A warm bed in Stark Tower is gotta be better that that, right?” Peter stared at him, mulling over his words.

Tony let the suit open and stepped out and held out his hand.

“Come on, give me a chance.”

Peter glanced away as a tear fell down his cheek but he nodded minutely and that was all Tony needed to wrap the boy in a hug.

Peter seemed to sag into his hold as he wept and Tony held him, stroking his hair for a good five minutes before the tears turned into hiccups.

“Come on, let’s get you back to the Tower. We can wait for a car or I can have you back in 5 minutes if I fly you. You good to fly?”

Peter pulled back and nodded.

“You need the back pack?”

Peter shook his head. “I pawned everything of value in it to buy the pills and the alcohol, and it got pretty bloody.”

Tony nodded and gave Peter one quick last hug, to ground himself more than Peter, then stepped back into his suit. As soon as it closed around him he stepped back to Peter.

“Come stand on my feet and wrap your arms around my neck, I’ll take it easy, promise you won’t fall,” Tony realised the irony of that statement as soon as he said it, but ignored it, wrapping an arm around the kid’s slim waist and pulling him into position.

Tony fired up the repulsors and he could tell Peter’s bright mind was momentarily distracted by the feel of the launch and the brightness of the controlled blast below them. He held on tightly to Peter’s waist, locking his suits arm in a way Peter wouldn’t be able to wriggle free from easily and took to the sky towards his Tower.


	2. Chapter 2 - Taking Peter home

Once airborne, he used his eye-controlled interface to silently mute the helmet.

“Friday, send a car for May Parker to meet me at the Tower – Tell her Peter has been found and is safe. I’ll update her once she arrives. And get me Banner on the phone.”

“Tony?” Banner asked on answering.

“I need your help. We need your help. As Doctor and quack.”

“Are you okay Tony? The PTSD’s flaring up?”

“No, not me. The kid - Peter. I’m taking him to the Tower – he’s made repeated attempts to take his own life. He desperately needs help.”

“I’m in Brazil – Get Friday to arrange something and I’ll head to the airport. I should be able to get there by morning. Is he hurt or you need an emergency psych admission?”

“He’s Spider-Man, he’ll break out of a place like that in 2 minutes flat. I’m lucky I managed to talk him into coming with me. And he not bleeding… at the moment.”

“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Keep him calm, warm, food, water, keep him grounded – you know the drill.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Bruce. See you in the morning,” Tony said as they hung up.

“Friday – You heard the man, arrange for Bruce to get here ASAP.”

Peter lasted until a few hundred yards from the landing area when his strength gave out and he slumped in Tony’s grasp. Thanks to his tight hold on Peter’s waist Peter didn’t slip far as his feet slid off the suits feet and his arms fell from around the suit’s shoulders.

Tony changed his hold on the teen, pausing mid-air to scoop him up under his knees with one arm and under his arms with the other, bringing Peter’s face to his chest.

“Friday, run vitals.”

“Vitals are fine, Boss. I think he passed out with exhaustion.”

He took the last few hundred yards carefully using only his main foot and leg repulsors to get to his pad and land.

Peeling his helmet back and still suited, he walked through his living areas and through to his bedroom where he had the large walk-in shower in his en-suite.

He walked into the large stall and placed Peter down carefully on the curved marble shower seat, the kid’s head slumping against the side of the shower.

Tony left him for as short a time as possible as he removed the suit and his clothes down to his underwear and stepped back into the shower and began the process of stripping the foul smelling soiled clothing from Peter’s body.

It was tempting to let the kid sleep now he’s passed out, but he didn’t want Peter waking up to the horror of bloodstains and the stench of old vomit.

Slowly he removed Peter’s sneakers and socks, then jeans and pulled away the coat he’d been trying to keep warm with. His heart clenched and a spike of guilt shot through him as he saw the heavily blood-stained ‘I Survived My Trip to New York’ t-shirt, but pulled it over his head and cast it into the pile to throw away.

Once fully stripped, Tony turned to the shower and paused before he switched it on. This would wake the kid.

“Friday, seal all the door and windows. No access in or out without my say.”

“Yes, Boss.”

He switched on the flow of water and brought it to a safe, warm temperature.

“Come on, Pete. Let’s get you clean then you can sleep,” Tony announced as he brought the shower spray to Peter’s skin.

Peter blinked his eyes open slowly. “Hmm, where am I?”

“At the Tower. Safe. Just giving you a wash before you sleep,” Tony said, tipping Peter’s head back and running the warm water through his hair, wrinkling his nose at a clump of something he found in the strands.

Tony grabbed the shower gel and poured a generous amount onto Peter’s hair and over his shoulders and started the process of cleaning off the unresisting young man. Tony washed Peter’s torso where most of the mess was and let the flow of water and soap do the rest – conscious he was in a shower with a semi-conscious boy, despite the fact he himself was covered.

Peter could wash himself properly tomorrow, but tonight he was just aiming for a smell better than dead hobo.

Peter blinked as up at him when he rinsed the soap from his body.

“I’m sorry, Mister Stark,” he mumbled.

“Hey. None of that. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for… come on. Let’s get you dry,” Tony said grabbing a big fluffy towel from the rack.

He got most of the water off him and then coaxed the kid into his bedroom and considered for a moment taking him trough to a guest room, but he felt uneasy not staying in the same room as the kid until Banner got there.

Peter still seemed exhausted and sleepy so Tony sat him down on the edge of the bed and went to pull on some clothes and retrieve a t-shirt and some pyjama pants for the kid.

With a bit of man-handling he got Peter into the sleep-wear and pulled back the covers on his bed.

“Come on. Climb in,” Tony said, smiling at the way Peter crawled lazily up the quilt and flopped onto his pillow.” 

“Hmmm, smells nice,” Peter murmured.

“Well a lack of blood and vomit will improve the smell of pretty much anything. You want something to eat? When’s the last time you ate?”

“Hmm… dunno. Not hungry.”

“I’ll make you something for if you change your mind-“

Tony was interrupted by Friday. “Boss, May Parker had arrived.”

Peter was alert in an instant. “May’s here? Oh, God, oh god. No!”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. I promise. She’s not going to shout at you, she’s just worried and wants to make sure you’re okay. You get your head down and I’ll go talk to her okay?”

“I don’t want to go home.”

“And you don’t have to… Lie down and get some sleep and let me sort it all out, okay?” Tony said coaxing Peter back under the covers.

“I’ll be right back. Everything is going to be okay.”

Tony closed the door to his bedroom and then called for May to be admitted.

Moments later the woman burst out of the elevator.

“Where is he!”

“May, calm down. Calm down.”

“I need to see him, Stark!”

“I know you do, I know,” Tony said, grasping her by the shoulders as she looked around, trying to ascertain which door her nephew might be behind.

“But he’s very, very vulnerable right now and he’s only just calmed down, so I need you to calm down too – for his sake. If you go in there all hyper he’ll want to run.”

May seemed to deflate. “Is he okay?”

“Come on, sit down. This is going to be hard to hear…” Tony said, guiding her to the sofa area.

She sat down and discarded her bag, eagerly awaiting Tony to speak.

“Right now, and this is the important bit. He’s safe and unhurt… And I’m going to keep him that way… Right?” Tony said. May nodded in confirmation, taking a deep breath and calming a little.

“I found him under a bridge in a bad way… he had made an attempt… attempts to take his own life.”

May’s hand flew to her mouth as she let out a small cry. Her eyes immediately filling with tears.

“I’ve already called a doctor – a specialist who’s flying in as we speak – he’ll be here by morning. But until he gets here we just gotta keep him calm and I know he feels he’s disappointed you so he’s not going to react well to seeing you.”

May was shaking her head.

“I know, I know you’re not disappointed in him, me either – I so fucked up – but we’re just going to have to take it easy with him right now. I said I’d fix him something to eat in case he feels he can eat, you want to give me a clue what he likes?” Tony said, feeling a task for May would make her feel useful, and give something Peter liked would most likely want to eat.

“We can take it in to him and you can reassure him that-”

Tony was suddenly interrupted by Friday – her volume at alert-level.

“Boss, Peter is trying to break the seal on your windows!”

“We’re over 60 floors up! If he falls-” May said alarmed.

Both of them scrambled off the sofa and Tony ran to his bedroom with May hurrying behind.

As he burst through the door he saw Peter out of the bed, bending and prizing the steel framework from around the window and causing cracks in the hardened glass to fracture across its surface. 

“Friday, activate the bomb blast shutters in my bedroom!” Tony shouted and metal shuttering slammed down into place behind the glass.

“NOOO!” Peter shrieked, turning to face them and instantly backing up when he say May.

Peter’s breaths were coming fast and hard, his eyes darting around the room in a way Tony was all too familiar with.

“Easy… Easy… Come on Pete. You’re safe. There’s nothing you need to run from. Take deep breaths, come on… come on,” Tony said edging towards him.

Peter pushed against Tony’s chest and he went flying backwards across the room, hitting the wall behind.

“How is he so strong?” May cried out, clearly terrified.

Tony got back to his feet. “There’s nothing here that’s going to hurt you Pete. Come on, buddy, breath for me… slow your breathing… focus on me. Pete! Focus on me!” Tony kept up. Peter’s eyes eventually came back to Tony.

“That’s it. Now tell me what colour shirt I’m wearing… come on… What colour shirt am I wearing?”

Peter’s eyes flicked down to his shirt. “What colour, Pete?”

“Black,” Peter gasped, looking around again.

“Pete, now look at the carpet, look at your feet… come on Pete, just look down for me… That’s it… now how does that carpet feel on your bare feet… scrunch your toes on it – come on… How does it feel?”

Peter’s breathing was easing slightly as he looked up at Tony.

“Soft… squishy.”

“And how many pillows on the bed. Count them,” Tony asked him.

“Why?” Peter asked, confused, shaking his head.

“just count them for me Pete. You trust me, don’t you? Count em for me.”

Peter looked down at the bed.

“Six,” Peter said, still confused

Tony smiled. “Good work, Champ. Now think about how fast you’re breathing. Let slow that right down… we’ll do it together,” Tony said, approaching again slowly. “Breath in for three seconds – one, two, three, and out two three… Come on Pete. Focus on me and breathe with me. One, two, three, out two three…”

Tony reached him and tentatively touched the boy’s shoulder. “You’re doing great, Pete. Just great.”

“Now look around for me, nice and slow and keep the breathing going. You’re in my room, nice and safe. You’re warm and you’re not hurt. Everything is going to be fine. Come and sit on the bed with me, that’s it,” Tony coaxed as Peter sat down with him.

Tony hitched them so they were sitting with their backs on the headboard. Tony’s arm wrapped around him.

“Doing better?”

Peter nodded and swallowed.

“Come here,” Tony said to May, who was still hovering helpless by the door.

“Easy Pete. It’s okay,” Tony said, slipping from his side and motioning for May to take his place.

“Just let her hold you. She’s not mad, are you May?”

“No, baby,” she said, carefully sitting down and scooping him in her arms.

“That’s it focus on the breathing,” Tony continued to instruct. “In for three, out for three… that’s it. Copy May. In for three, out for three. That’s it, just let her hold you. No need to talk, just focus on the breathing,” Tony said, shooting a look to May so she knew not to talk yet.

The time for talking would come, but the question that would be on May’s lips right now was the last question Peter needed to hear – ‘Why?’

She nodded back in understanding and held him tight.

“I’ll be 2 minutes, you guys hold tight and just breathe.”

Tony stepped out of the bedroom door and clicked it shut quietly behind him.

“Friday, get me Banner, and get the mark 33, 43, and 40 to stand sentry at my door… And the Mk 38… yeah, get Igor down here down here too – just in case we need some muscle.”

“Boss, I have Mister Banner on the line.”

“Bruce – I’m having real problems here. Massive anxiety attacks and we’ve just barely managed to keep him from heading out the window on the 68th floor. He’s stronger than I am, and unless I unleash a few suits to keep him down or trap him inside the hulk-buster, I don’t know if he’ll make the night.”

“Is it a flight response or is there a suicidal intention?”

“Both, I think. If he gets out of here I know he has a plan for his next attempt.”

“Okay, I’m going to call the Mount Sinai Access Hospital and have them dispense the necessary drugs over to you – some hard-core sedatives. Give me a call back if you think you need to up the dosages I specify because of his metabolism.”

Within 5 minutes, the mark 43 suit crunched down outside the main doors to the hospital and a few minutes later a nervous pharmacist was trying to explain to the silent empty suit the potential side effects and contra-indications. He didn’t argue when the suit ripped the pharmacy bag from his hands and blasted down the corridor, terrifying the staff as he left.

Tony was sat in his room, watching May’s fingers card through his hair as he rested on her shoulder, when the suit returned and walked straight into the bedroom. Peter popped his head up, weary.

“Easy Pete. It’s just an empty suit that went shopping for me. Shoulda got him to pick up some pizza, too huh?” Tony joked. He took the bag and Friday tactfully guided the suit out of the room.

Tony pulled out the medicines, a pack of pills and bottle with liquid. He read the instructions and prepped the drugs before he went to sit by Peter.

“I called a doctor I trust earlier and he sent me these sedatives. You need some rest Pete and this will help you sleep through the night. Is that okay?”

Peter nodded and he looked at May who nodded too.

He grabbed a water glass from the side table and handed him two pills.

Peter took them without argument, clearly happier at the prospect of sedated oblivion.

“The other’s a quick acting dose that I need to inject, but before I do, I need to ask Peter’s permission for something before he goes to sleep. Can I ask you to wait in the living room for a moment?” Tony said to May.

She looked like she wanted to refuse but then thought the better of it. So she kissed Peter’s forehead and reluctantly left his side. When the bedroom door clicked shut again, Peter looked up at him.

“Can I tell May the truth about Spider-Man?” Tony asked, reaching out for his arm.

“I guess… It’s not gonna make much difference now, is it?” Peter said as the both looked down to the scars on his upturned arm.

“I promise you everything will be okay,” Tony said, lining up the needle with a clear vein. He had to press in hard to get through Peter’s durable skin and wondered how hard it had been for Peter to make the cuts on his own wrists.

Peter’s eyes fluttered shut, so Tony coaxed him into a comfortable position with the last of the boy’s consciousness and then pressed a kiss into his hair. 

“Hmmm… that was nice,” Peter murmured.

“You sleep now.”


	3. Chapter 3 - Revelations

May was waiting for him as he opened the bedroom door. He held it open for a moment and motioned for her to take a look.

“Peter’s sleeping and Friday’s watching over him- she’ll tell us if he looks like he’s waking.”

Tony closed the door and turned back towards the sofas they’d been sitting on earlier.

“The place is locked down on bio-prints, and even these guys are here to provide a little extra security, so he can’t run,” Tony said, motioning to the three suits that were standing sentry by the door.

“Yeah. That guy might be overkill though,” May said, pointing over to Igor, the heavy-lifting suit.

“Well, he just tags along with the others,” Tony said, ignoring the real reason for the super-strong suit’s presence just yet.

“You want to stay here tonight?”

May nodded, as they sat down. Grateful.

“Take the guest room – I’m gonna sleep on the sofa in the room with him. There’s a slim chance his metabolism will power through the sedatives and he’ll need a new dose.”

“You did so well in there to calm him down… I didn’t realise what you were doing at first with the shirt colour and the carpet,” May said.

“Grounding him… he was spiking off the chart and I just needed to get him to a more rational place before he could get control. I’ve learned it through my PTSD panic attacks – The number of times Pep or Rhodey’s had to tell me to count cars or stick my hand in some grass or some such,” Tony admitted with a shrug.

“What am I going to do? I can’t keep him locked in your tower like Rapunzel for the rest of his life!”

Tony smiled and shook his head, the mental image of Peter shrugging and crawling right out of a fairy tale tower window.

“We need to talk, too,” Tony began carefully. “I’ve got a bit of a revelation for you, and you’re not going to like it.”

“You said he was OK, that he wasn’t harmed.”

“And he’s not… He’s a tough kid. I’ll have him double checked tomorrow, just in case. I’ve already called Banner and he’s flying in, he’ll be with us in the morning.”

“Banner? Bruce Banner? The Hulk, Banner?” May asked confused.

“Banner is an MD and also has a PhD in Psychiatry along with some other stuff… he wanted to fully understand the psyche and anger management,” Tony shrugged. “And he’s been in dark places himself. But mostly I called in Banner because Peter’s going to have to talk about something that he’s kept secret for a while.”

“I know he’s gay! He’s talked to me about that!”

“Umm, it’s a bit more than that…” Tony said, trying to skip over the fact that May had inadvertently outed her nephew.

“Banner’s a good choice because he’s one of us. One of the Avengers, like me, Romanoff, Vision, Barton and unofficially… Peter Parker. And we’re gonna look after our own.”

“What?” Said looking like she’d just misheard.

“There was never an internship, May… When I visited that first time it was to recruit him for the Avengers.”

“The Avengers? A fifteen year old kid? Are you nuts?”

“That part was a surprise to me too… But May - Your boy is Spider-Man.”

May blinked at him as if he’d just spoken in Swahili, made an aborted shake of her head and stared at him for a few moments.

“Peter? Peter is Spider-Man?”

“That’s why he was so strong in there… He’s our Rookie Avenger… The night he disappeared I hadn’t revoked his internship, I’d taken the suit off him… He’d broken some fundamental rules we’d set up to keep him safe by engaging with those terrorists on the ferry and me taking the suit was supposed to ground him for a while.”

May covered her mouth. “Oh my god. He was at the ferry incident.”

“And the bank robbery, the Washington Monument rescue, bicycle thefts on 34th, and all the little stuff... He’s been doing this for a while. But he’s usually been staying close to home, close to the ground and safe. I was worried. I thought by taking away the suit I’d keep him safer when I gave it back – He’d be more likely to stick to the rules.”

“Oh my god, I’d given him such a hard time about sneaking out and skipping class and all that time...”

“He was out there trying to be a hero,” Tony filled in.

“How the hell is he Spider-Man?!”

Tony held up his hands. “Hey, nothing to do with me – he was already swinging though the city when I found him. It was some sort of radioactive spider bit him on a school trip he told me. There does seem to be a radioactive theme to a lot of the Avenger’s transformations… Except mine, of course. Mine’s just money.”

“You want a whiskey?” Tony offered, recognising the look of a blown mind.

“Yes!” May said.

He got up and a few moments later returned with a crystal tumbler.

“You don’t need one after tonight?” May asked, taking a swig.

“I’m gonna keep a clear head just in case he wakes,” Tony shrugged. “But you drink, he’s in safe hands with me and these guys… See why I need Igor over there, now?” pointing back to the blue armour. “That kid in there can throw a bus.”

“Thank you… You’ve always been such a hero to him, even as a little kid – I mean he was always a massive fan which is why we went to the Stark Expo – Then when you saved him he was incurable,” she laughed, rubbing moisture from her eyes.

“Saved him?”

“You didn’t know? I would have thought he’d have told you,” May said looking surprised.

Tony shook his head.

“Ben and I were with Peter in the crowd when you opened the expo and Pete insisted on being on Ben’s shoulders so you could see his Iron-Man mask as you flew in from the ceiling... Like you were going to notice! Anyway, we were pretty close to the front of the crowd so when those horrible Hammer robots went mad we were swamped in a panicking crowd.

“As we got out of the main building Peter got pulled away from us and we lost sight of him. I still remember the horror of seeing that drone targeting little Peter and him putting up his little fake blaster glove with such foolish bravery. We started running to him and a moment later you landed down and blasted that thing away from him.

“He told us you said ‘good job’ – he was so ecstatic and happy – entirely unfazed by being a second away from death… Me and Ben were still shaking a day later.”

“Well, I’ll be dammed,” Tony said, sitting back.

They talked a little longer, but with Peter safe and asleep the trails of the day were catching up on them both, and May confessed to not sleeping for more than a couple of hours while Peter had been missing.

Tony showed her to the guest room and then turned in himself, grabbing a blanket from the cupboard and settling down on the sofa in his room, and positioning himself with a good view of the bump under the covers of his bed.


	4. Chapter 4 - Help arrives

Tony woke to a rap of knuckles at his bedroom door and the shout of “Breakfast!”

“Coming, Aunt May,” Peter groaned automatically from under the blankets. Tony smiled as he wiped the sleep from his eyes and rubbed the crick in his neck from sleeping on the sofa.

“Come on Kid, I’m starving,” Tony said getting up and clocking the way the bed lump suddenly froze.

“Yes, you’re in my bed. Yes, all that shit happened last night and yes… it would seem we have breakfast made, so there’s the silver-lining, right?”

“I’d forgotten for a minute…”

Before Tony could respond, there was another knock on the door and May’s head popped into the room.

“Come on, before it gets cold.”

“May… I’m so sorry…”

“Enough of the apologies, there’s pancakes. You’re hungry, right?” she asked.

Peter’s stomach gurgled and Tony laughed, following her out of the bedroom.

Peter trailed behind in the over-sized shirt and baggy PJ’s looking uneasy.

“You didn’t have to do all this May, and frankly, I’m amazed I had all the ingredients,” Tony said, following May’s lead and keeping everything as normal as possible.

“Well it’s not often I get to make Iron-Man AND Spider-Man breakfast,” May said, nudging Peter’s arm.

“May, I’m so sorry I-“

“Hey. I said no more apologies,” she said cupping his face. “I’m very proud of you, Peter.”

Peter looked surprised by the statement but wasn’t given time to recover.

“Now come on, eat up, I’ve made plenty,” she said flipping pancakes out onto a plate and handing them over.

“Oh, blueberry! These are pretty good pancakes, May!” Tony said.

“Maybe I should get an endorsement and start selling them as Avengers pancakes, make my millions…” May suggested.

“Did someone say Avengers pancakes? Does that mean I get some because airline food is just awful!?” Bruce said from the doorway.

“Bruce!” Tony said, going over to greet his friend.

“Hey Tony,” Bruce said, giving his friend a hug and walking up to the breakfast bar.

“Hey, Kiddo,” Bruce said ruffling Peter’s hair affectionately.

“And we’ve not met, I’m Bruce,” Banner said, extending a hand.

May shook it. “I’m May Parker. Thanks for coming all this way.”

“No problem. You get a good night’s rest?” Bruce said to Peter.

Peter shrugged. “Guess so.”

Peter looked around. “Hey. What are all the suits doing here?”

Bruce looked around and made an educated guess. Instead he chose to say “Hoping for pancakes? Like me…”

“I get it!” May said laughing, pouring new pancake mixture into the pan.

Despite the subterfuge, Tony saw the moment Peter realised the real reason they were there.

Peter was quiet while they ate and when they finished Bruce turned to Peter.

“How do you feel about us having a chat?”

“You mean as a doctor?”

Bruce nodded.

“Okay. I guess so. But you should know, I’ve had therapy before and well… it doesn’t really work.”

“Good job this is just a chat, then,” Bruce said with a shrug. “Where you want to talk? Here on the sofas okay?”

Peter nodded and Tony turned to May.

“Hey, while Bruce is here why don’t we swing by your place and grab some of your stuff, that’s if you wanna stay another night?” Tony asked, simultaneously contriving a reason to leave and offering May the option of being near her nephew another night.

“Sure, that would be great!” May said brightly. “I’ll just grab my bag.”

“And I’ll grab my coat. Have fun kids, and Friday… Bruce is the Boss while Daddy’s out.” Tony said, innocuously handing total control of Friday, the building and his suits in his absence.

When they returned to the Tower a couple of hours later, Bruce was on his own in the living room scrolling down some information on a tablet.

“Oh, hey,” he greeted.

“Where is he?” Tony asked.

“He’s gone for a lie down – it was a bit of a heavy talk.”

“Is he okay?” May asked, looking towards the bedroom door and clearly itching to go to Peter.

“Right now he’s fine he’s calm and he’s safe. But he’s had a rough first session with me, so he probably needs some time alone to process it. I’ve got Friday monitoring his vitals so we’ll know if there’s a spike in heart rate – if he has another panic attack we’ll know about it.”

“How did it go?” Tony asked.

“I’ve asked Peter if it’s okay for me to talk to you guys and he’s fine with it… well, ‘indifferent’ seems a better word, but the consent was there so come and take a seat.”

“Look guys, I’m not going to be able to sugar coat any of this, so if you need me to stop – just say, okay?” Bruce said

May nodded and Bruce looked at Tony who seemed surprised he was being asked for confirmation.

“Well, from what I can gather there was some existing trauma related to the death of his uncle,” Bruce began, looking at May. “He felt responsible for Mister Parker’s death.”

“While he had the therapy, it would seem that the death and Peter’s feeling of liability was the key to Peter’s transition to Spider-Man. Rather than the therapy working, Peter built a construct around his Spider-Man persona – Spider-Man could take that self-blame and hatred and become something of value – become a hero and silence those negative voices. It was that transition that brought him out of his previous depression and not the therapy,” Bruce concluded.

“However that construct he made was entirely dependent on a continual need to be that hero,” Bruce explained, looking at Tony and nodding as he saw the penny drop.

“And that’s why he was always pushing the boundaries to get involved. Why he was always doing more dangerous and dangerous things,” Tony realised.

“And why he was sneaking out every night… He spent months looking tired every morning,” May said in realisation.

“Being the hero became the drug that took the bad feelings away, the guilt and feeling of being worthless… but like all drugs you have keep upping the dosage to have an effect and it had to come to a head at some point.”

“Trying to take on the gang stealing the tech single-handedly,” Tony nodded.

“And over-night that construct was ripped away from him. Sorry to be blunt Tony – You weren’t to know when you took the suit off him, but he looked to you for validation that his actions were enough.”

“And he was left with nothing…” May summarized.

“And felt like he, himself, was nothing of value,” Bruce explained.

“Oh, fuck… Fuck… I told him as much. Oh, Tony you fucking idiot,” Tony swore at himself. May and Bruce looked at him.

“When I told him I wanted the suit back I too busy ripping him a new one. I’d been so damn scared for him fighting against those weapons that I was too focused on being angry and I didn’t listen!” Tony got to his feet and started to pace.

“Fuck… He told me ‘I am nothing without this suit’,” Tony said with clear distress.

“And what did I do? What did I fucking do? I went and fucking told him that if he was nothing without his suit then he shouldn’t have it,” Tony went on.

Tony turned to Peter’s Aunt. “May, May I’m so sorry!”

“Tony, you were trying to do what was best for him. You know I scolded him that night, too,” May responded.

“Proportioning blame isn’t going to help anyone. Especially not Peter,” Bruce said clearly, halting them both.

“Now on top of all those existing issues, the repeated suicide attempts have really added to the level of trauma he’s trying to handle,” Bruce added.

“Repeated?” May said, looking at them both. “How many?”

Tony dropped his head.

“May, the only real reason Peter is still here is because the spider mutation made him a hell of a lot tougher than the average human,” Tony said, running his palm down his face.

“What did he try?”

Bruce looked down, letting Tony field this one. “He cut his wrists, tried hanging a few times, tried pills and tried alcohol poisoning… thankfully none worked – His body was able to repair the damage before it was too late.”

“Oh my god,” May said, crying. Tony sat back down beside her and pulled her into a hug.

“We’re gonna make this better, May. Aren’t we Bruce?”

Bruce nodded. “It’s not going to be easy on the Kid, but I’m gonna hang around for a while if that’s okay and give him daily sessions. I’m prescribing him a set of new meds too. They’ll help with the anxiety and the depression, but it’s going to be a long road,” Bruce explained.

“Tony, you know first-hand what PTSD can do and it’s still early days for Peter – It may get worse before he gets better,” Banner added.

“You think he’ll try again?” May asked with a sniff.

“He might have those thoughts, yes. But now we’ll have the right support structure around him.”

“Do we keep him here?” May asked.

“Normally I’d be recommending a temporary detainment in a psychiatric hospital – While he’s currently calm he’s just too blasé about what’s happening and that’s a danger-sign. But a hospital just isn’t going to cut it with his skills – they just wouldn’t be equipped to contain him. I hate to say it and it kind of goes against the ethics, but I don’t see any alternative to keeping him here until he’s not an immediate danger to himself.” 

“And in the mean-time?”

“We keep things as relaxed as possible. Engage with him – Have conversations about everything and anything, with the exception of stuff related to the trauma. No ‘why?’ questions – That’s my job.

“If he volunteers information, starts talking about it, that’s a different story. You listen. Don’t judge, don’t ask why. Don’t try and fix things with a few words – just tell him and show him he’s loved and wanted.”

May and Tony nodded.

“Right… I’m going to get some sleep. Am I good to use my old rooms 2 floors down?”

“Yeah – They’re as you left them,” Tony said as Bruce got to his feet. “And thanks, Bruce. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”

“Hey, he’s one of us, right?” Bruce said, slapping Tony’s shoulder on the way past.

“Mrs Parker. I’m sure we’ll be speaking again soon, but just remember – you need to look after yourself before you can look after someone else. Take time for yourself, eat, sleep...”

May nodded.

-o0o-

“You want to take it in to him or shall I?” May asked, serving up a plate of carbonara for Peter.

“Mind if I?” Tony asked. May had already popped her head into the bedroom to see if they could coax him out while they ate dinner but Peter seemed reluctant to show his face.

“Good luck,” she said handing the plate to him.

Tony rapped his knuckles on the door to give Peter fair warning and then entered. While Peter had forced down a couple of pancakes this morning he’d refused lunch and the kid was thin enough as it was. Tony was going to make sure he ate.

“Hey, I brought you dinner,” Tony said, coming over to where Peter was curled on his side in his bed.

“I’m not real hungry, Mister Stark,” Peter said predictably.

“Yeah, but you’re going to try to eat some anyway or I’ll get into trouble for not following Bruce’s orders. If you don’t eat regularly your blood sugar drops making you more tired and more depressed. Come on, sit up. May’s made one of your favourites.”

Peter pulled himself up into a sitting position, Tony’s white work-out tee hanging baggily off the teen’s shoulder.

Peter accepted the plate as Tony sat down on the bed beside him and tried a few mouthfuls.

“I think I’ve had enough,” Peter tried after just three.

“Come on, buddy. Give me half the plate or May will think it’s her cooking.”

Peter’s head thunked back onto the head-board behind him and he looked at Tony, ashamed.

“I’m sorry Mister Stark. I’ve just turned into this massive burden,” Peter said quietly.

“No. Not a burden,” Tony said. “We care about you, Pete… I care about you. We just want to see you get well.”

Peter nodded and attempted a few more slow forkfuls.

“And it’s actually me that should be apologising to you,” Tony admitted and Peter stopped eating and frowned.

“I told you I expected you to be better than me. I realise now you already were. I treated you like a kid, holding you back from trying to fulfil these stupid expectations I’d had of you… and when you tried to be the better man anyway I punished you by taking the suit,” Tony admitted, picking at the bed-covers with his fingers.

“You don’t need to feel bad, Mister Stark. You were right – I’m nothing without that suit, and when I do have it I’m not smart enough or strong enough or… just really enough to make something useful of it,” Peter said with a shrug.

“That’s not true,” Tony said, looking up at the honesty in Peter’s eyes. He really did believe what he said.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking today and it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve come to that realisation. It’s just the therapy made me ignore the truth for a while. I’m not good enough for that suit or these powers… That spider just bit the wrong guy,” Peter said with another shrug.

“Why would you think that?” Tony asked, realising as he spoke that he was going against Banner’s advice. Yet the urge to dissuade Peter from this ridiculous notion was too strong.

“It’s my fault Uncle Ben Died – I could have stopped it,” Peter admitted, watching Tony for a reaction. “I tried to be a better person afterward –and later when you found me I thought I had a goal, a focus… But then you made me realise that even though I was trying I could have killed everyone on that Ferry. It doesn’t matter how hard I try I’m just not good enough.”

“Oh, Peter. You’re more than good enough. Think of all the people you’ve helped… and think about it this way – If you didn’t have these spider-powers and you didn’t go fighting vigilantes, would that make you not good enough? Is Ned and your Aunt not good enough because they don’t patrol the streets looking for old ladies to help cross the road?”

“But I do have those powers… And with them comes a responsibility I can’t live up to.” Peter said pushing the plate away on his lap. Tony admitted defeat and picked it up.

“My powers come on the form of an above average IQ and a ridiculous amount of cash.” Tony said with a sigh. “And yet you seem to look up to me despite me spending the majority of my adult life making weapons that ended up killing untold numbers of civilians. I was literally known as the Merchant of Death.”

“That’s different.” Peter protested.

“How? And look at Bruce – He totalled half of Jo-burg in recent years. Nat’s got a history as dark as Tarantino’s nightmares, and Wanda recently took out half a building, triggering the split of the Avengers. None of us are doing a great job of living up to perfection – but we’re doing what we can.

“I held you up on this pedestal to be better than all of us and that wasn’t fair because the rest of us are screwing the pooch on a daily basis and have been for years.

“You were doing what you could and this is well overdue, but I’m proud of you for keeping that boat together as long as you did.”

Peter stared at him, looking surprised at the praise.

Tony sniffed and looked down, guilty it had taken this long to give the Kid some of the praise he both needed and deserved.

“You want desert? I make the most awesome ‘Harribo surprise’,” Tony offered.

“What’s the surprise?” Peter asked, distracted.

“It’s just a bag of Harribo, I can’t cook for shit,” Tony admitted getting a slight smile out of the kid.

“I’m good but thanks,” Peter said quietly, and Tony knew it wasn’t just for the offer of candy.


	5. Chapter 5 - Night Terrors

Peter was slightly improved the following morning and came to join them for breakfast, May serving them eggs and Tony praising May’s food again, saying he’d start getting to fat for his suit if he wasn’t careful.

He used the comment as a segway to get Peter into the gym for a little light sparing. Bruce had told them exercise did have a great effect on mood, releasing endorphins and stimulating the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.

Sadly, Peter seemed too reluctant, saying he felt tired and Tony didn’t want to press the matter. Instead Peter spent a little time staring out of the large panoramic glass wall over the city before Bruce arrived.

Tony and May again made themselves scarce and by the time they returned Peter had already retreated back into the bedroom.

“Another rough one. I’m struggling to get him to see situations in a balanced way rather than his purely negative view, but that’s a very strong voice in his head at the moment – It’s going to take a while but I’ve got a few techniques up my sleeve,” Bruce had

Peter ate a few token bites of food for lunch and dinner, and that night, Tony settled down to a third night on the sofa in his own bedroom, Peter already asleep as he crept in.

Tony woke around 3am to sounds of whimpering and muffled cries of ‘No!'”

“Pete?” Tony asked sleepily sitting up from his makeshift bed.

Peter didn’t wake just tossed and turned in the bed, still making small, pathetic whimpers.

Tony stood and watched him in the low light. He knew from his own experience that the nightmare would either diminish on its own or continue to get worse until Peter’s mind woke him to either fight or flee from the imagined horror.

Tony prayed the boy would settle, but his thrashing and whimpers were becoming shouts, so Tony decided to try and bring him out of it as easily as possible.

“Peter… Peter – It’s okay. Peter you’re safe. Wake up!” Tony tried, but his voice wasn’t getting through.

“Peter!” he tried louder, but still nothing.

“Peter! Wake up!” he called loudly and shook Peter’s shoulder. The reaction was immediate.

Peter screamed and flailed his arms in protection, knocking Tony back.

“Peter, you’re okay. You’re safe!” Tony shouted, but Peter was already trying to escape the bed, hindered by the sheets wrapped around his legs.

He fell with a bump onto the floor beside the bed and yanked at the sheets in desperation, mindless of Tony’s calls to calm him. He flicked his wrist at the wall and looked horror-struck when his webbing didn’t appear.

“Friday, lights!” Tony said in desperation. He knew sudden light would help bring him around but it was always a scary transition for him when Pepper would switch on the lights suddenly in the night.

Peter stilled, blinking and shielding his eyes, realising he couldn’t fight or flee, only freeze in terror.

“Peter, it’s Tony – You’re safe, you’re at the Tower, you’re fine. Everyone is okay,” Tony called out and finally got the attention of Peter’s wide eyed stare. Despite being still, Peter’s breathing remained fast and shallow, meaning he was also well into a panic attack.

“Come on Pete, easy… Just breathe like we did yesterday, three in, three out… that’s it,” Tony said, getting down on the floor with Peter.

Tony held out his hand tentatively and gripped Peter’s hand as he talked him into a more steady breathing pattern. As soon as the breathing calmed the tears came, in pained, choked sobs, Peter’s hand tightening in his.

Wasting no time, Tony pulled the boy into his lap and wasn’t surprised when Peter hugged him tightly, a fierce grip in his t-shirt as though he was afraid Tony would vanish.

Tony closed his eyes, rocking the teen gently and keeping up the soothing monologue, memories of his own night-terrors at the forefront of his mind.

Eventually, Peter started loosening his grip and Tony pulled back to look at the boy. He wiped through the lines of tears on Peter’s cheek with his thumb and brought his head up.

“Hey,” he said, looking into Peter red-rimmed watery eyes.

Peter made a hitch of breath, a mix between a sniff and a hiccup.

“I’m sorry,” Peter whispered.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Tony said, unthinkingly pressing a kiss into Peter’s hair and stroking the sweat soaked t-shirt on Peter’s back.

“Come on, let’s get you some fresh sleepwear and a clean sheet,” Tony said, unwinding the sheet from Peter’s legs and pulling him up to sit on the bed.

He left the shaking teen for a few moments while he grabbed a fresh shirt and boxers and a clean cotton sheet from the cupboard. He returned and started remaking the bed.

“I feel like fool reacting to a nightmare like that,” Peter said quietly, looking down at his hands, watching the tremor.

“Well then we’re both fools – I get them too. After the battle of New York I’d wake up like this two, three times a night. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Tony said. He finished preparing the bed and turned to Peter, gently lifting his chin up with his hand.

“I promise you it will get better,” Tony said, waiting until Peter nodded in acknowledgement before he stepped back. “Now come on. Get that shirt off, here’s some fresh clothes –I’ll go grab you some water for the bedside.”

“Friday, Lights ten percent,” Tony ordered. “I prefer a little light when I go back to sleep after a nightmare, this okay with you?”

Tony put the water on the bedside and lifted the sheets for Peter to climb in.

“Will you stay with me?” Peter asked quietly, a tinge of shame in his voice.

It was a request he’d never been brave enough to ask of Pepper as she’d disappeared out of the room with a pillow. He knew exactly what Peter craved – human contact.

“Sure, climb in. You’re the little spoon,” Tony said as though the request was nothing, scooting the teen into the bed.

Tony climbed in after him and gathered the kid up in his arms without prompting, Peter instantly snuggled close and settled quickly, his damp hair tucked under Tony’s chin.

Tony breathed deep and closed his eyes. At least Peter would have someone who understood.


	6. Chapter 6 - Nat's Visit

Peter woke alone, the memories of the previous night coming back to him as soon as his eyes fluttered open. While the bomb shutters were still down on the windows, Friday compensated by slowly lifting the light levels after dawn, making for a fairly easy awakening.

Peter looked over to the opposite side of the bed, the sheet was cast aside and there was still a dent in the pillow beside him.

He turned to it and pressed his face against the pillow, breathing in Tony’s comforting scent. There was a twitch in his boxers for the first time in nearly a week… Yeah, not just comforting, Peter reminded himself and decided he’d probably better get up before Tony found him sniffing his pillow.

Showered and dressed, Peter came out of the bedroom expecting to see his Aunt and Tony at the breakfast bar, instead Tony was pouring coffee and looking annoyed with the suited man opposite him.

“I can’t believe you’re changing your mind, Tony!”

It was Happy, Peter realised, so he hovered around the bedroom door not wanting to interrupt.

“Not necessarily changing it, but the decision is on hold,” Tony said, clearly irritated.

“But you said the place needed a massive overhaul and Up State was better? Why change now?”

“My horoscope told me to be wary of change,” Tony said dismissively.

“But I have the perfect moving plans! A packing schedule! A full team of security-cleared movers waiting in the lobby… I mean – was it this morning’s horoscope?” Happy asked, frustrated.

“I’ve been busy,” Tony responded flippantly. Peter could tell Tony was getting angrier and angrier with Happy’s challenge.

“Busy? Do I need to tell Pep to hold off on the contracts? I mean, I thought this was a done deal-”

Happy broke off when he saw Tony look behind him. He turned around to see Peter at Tony’s bedroom door.

“Why’s the kid here?” he asked, Tony. But instead of waiting for an answer he turned to Peter.

“Why the hell are you here?” Happy said with a scowl. Peter stepped back, despite being across the room.

“Because he’s my guest and as my employee I expect you to speak to him with respect,” Tony bit out sharply, surprising Happy with his tone.

“Right… Sorry boss,” Happy said, suddenly realizing he’d stepped out of line.

“Erm, you want me to run a dummy move today for when you do move? We could test my schedule and flight path.”

“Do whatever you think a competent Head of Security would do, but don’t move anything out and don’t disturb my personal floors,” Tony instructed.

“Right Boss,” Happy said, turning to the door and also to Peter. He looked at the boy standing in Tony’s bedroom doorway and turned back to his boss.

“You, err… You know he’s sixteen, right?”

“Get out!” Tony said, succinctly. Happy held up his hands and scurried off to the elevator.

“You’re moving from the Tower?” Peter asked when he’d gone.

“I was going to, I was supposed to sign the sale contract today, but I’m thinking of staying in the City. I can visit the compound whenever I need to.”

Tony looked over to the ceiling to floor panoramic view of the city and then back to Peter.

“I think I’d miss the view,” he said with a smile.

“Now, I thought I’d let you sleep, and you’re Aunt has had to go into work so it’s either coffee and a protein bar for breakfast or you’re cooking… and I’m pretty sure May brought toaster waffles yesterday,” Tony said, beckoning Peter into the kitchen area.

“You can make a flying suit in a cave but you can’t make toaster waffles?” Peter asked.

“Get in here and make me some breakfast.”

Bruce called in after breakfast and Tony made himself scarce in the lab before being called back up two hours later to find Bruce alone in the living room again and the bedroom door closed.

“How’s it going?”

“I got him to talk me through the nightmare he had last night,” Bruce said.

Tony nodded. “What was it?”

“He’s asked me not to tell you that part and I need to respect his privacy on that, but he also told me how you helped him afterwards.”

“Yeah, it was a rough one. It doesn’t help that the kid is super-strong so that fight-flight response is something else…”

“It wasn’t his first either – he’s had them before.”

“Re-occurring? The same ones?” Tony asked, hoping the answer was no.

“Yeah,” Bruce said, watching Tony’s displeasure at the news.

“And how are you coping? It must bring a lot of stuff back for you too when you see him like this,” Bruce asked.

“Kinda helps I know what to do for him… I don’t blame Pep, she was totally unequipped to handle all that but it makes me wish I’d had someone at the time, you know?”

Bruce nodded. “Well if you need to talk I’m currently running a two for one offer and I’m here all week,” he said with a smile.

“Look there is one thing – I didn’t really think about it at the time because he just needed some comfort, but he asked me to stay in the bed with him last night and it was only waking up with a sixteen year old plastered to my side did I consider the potential inappropriateness. I’m just glad his Aunt didn’t pop her head in,” Tony admitted.

“Look. It’s whatever works at this point. If he finds comfort in a hug, hug him. If he needs to see someone where when he opens his eyes in the night, and you’re happy to be there, then there’s no harm in it. And if you explain to May I’m sure she’ll understand – She’s very grateful for all the support you’re giving both of them.”

Peter went to sleep after Bruce left – The sessions tired him out and made him want to hide. He woke to a plate of clumsily made sandwiches on the bedside table under glad-wrap and ate one as he contemplated getting back up.

Eventually, he grabbed some fresh clothes and headed for the shower with the fragile intention of going back out and being social.

When Peter came back out of the bathroom fully clothed and into the bedroom he found Natasha sat on the sofa. He glanced at the still shut bedroom door that he hadn’t heard open or close.

“I hear my favourite spider-cous ain’t so great,” Nat said.

“Hi Nat,” Peter said, a genuine smile appearing on his face. Since the first time they’d met after Tony recruited him, Nat had seemed fond of him and she’d made a point of looking out for him in Berlin.

“Clint says Hi…How are you doing?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I guess you know,” Peter said with a sigh.

“Yes, but Bruce or Tony didn’t tell me, so don’t think they’re not keeping your confidences,” she replied.

“Then how?”

“I got my own spidey-senses, you know,” she said, tapping her nose with her finger.

Peter rolled his eyes and smiled.

“I take it Bruce is giving you some treatment? How’s that going?”

“It’s… hard but kinda good, I guess. I’ve been stuck in one way of thinking for a while now, and feels weird to try and look at things in a different way.”

“Well, you’re in good hands,” she said as Peter came to sit on the sofa with her. She ruffled his damp hair and he found he didn’t find it that condescending when it was from a Russian Assassin.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Tony said you did some stuff that you regret… “

“Oh yeah? What did he say?” Natasha asked.

“He was just trying to make me feel better because I failed to… because I had regrets. He said you and he both had a dark past and he also said how Wanda and Bruce made big mistakes.”

“Oh, yeah. I think all the Avengers have stuff that haunts them… We’re all screwed up in big ways… So welcome to the club, Kid!” Nat said, giving the teen a satirical fist-bump.

After a moment of silence she began to speak. “I’d done a lot of evil stuff by the time SHIELD caught up with me. I was the villain. My head was… messed up. The training I’d been forced to undertake around your age, younger, was brutal... right and wrong didn’t factor into my decisions – just completing the mission.

“I’ve killed men, women… families – All under orders and without the blink of an eye, but it catches up with you when you box in human emotions – it’s only a matter of time. They fester and become demons. Those demons were close to dragging me from this life when Barton found me.

“He was supposed to kill me – instead he took me home to SHIELD. Until then I’d never let anyone in. It’s still a struggle for me to be fond of people, but these days some of you get under my skin,” she said, reaching out and ruffling his hair again.

“And now?” he asked.

“It never goes away – not fully. But now I can sometimes forget – especially the more time I spend with people and form real relationships… I still have bad days – dark days – but they’re less intense and further apart… I think what I’m trying to say is Stark’s doing for you what Barton did for me… Let him.”

Peter nodded.

“I seems weird to think you struggle making relationships with people, everyone likes you. Mister Banner really, really likes you,” Peter said with a smile.

She raised her eyebrow at his suggestion then shrugged.

“And I screwed that up by opting by opting to win a fight rather than accept him… A relapse,” Natasha sighed. “They happen.”

“You should give him another chance,” Peter said, nodding.

Natasha laughed. “Damn matchmaker…How about you? You got a girl you like- Oh, a boy!”

“How? How did you?”

“Micro-Expressions, and excellent tool for interrogation – I’ll teach you some time, but there was a flicker of a grimace at the top of your left cheek when I said ‘girl’. So come on, give me the gossip – you know I like the green-guy so it’s only fair.”

“There is man I like but he’d never be interested.”

“Might be too soon for Tony, but never say never, Kid.”

“HOW?! How did you know it was him? Did my eyelid flicker out Morse-code to you or something?!”

“No… But you said ‘man’ and not ‘guy’ or ‘boy’… and to narrow it down you are in his bedroom, wearing his clothes… My super-spy skills lay pretty dormant for that one.”

“God, I hope I’m not that obvious to him.”

“Knowing Tony, his ego would love it... I assume you know he dated a lot of guys in his early playboy days?”

“NO! He’s Bi?”

“Google the Pink Flamingo Nightclub Scandal… Stark Industries got a Permanent Injunction on the media releasing the names involved, but between you and me – Tony was one, a certain handsome ER Doctor actor of the 90’s was another. And the ‘inappropriate items’ they were photographed with, were a dog collar and the Night-club’s sequined mechanical bull.”

“No way!”

“See! Look how happy I made you! I should be a shrink!”

Peter laughed, still reeling from the revelation.

“Anyway, I gotta go, but take this card. Keep it with you but memorise it,” she said, pulling out a business card and giving it to him.

Peter studied it. It was a discount card for a dry cleaners in Atlanta. “What is it?”

“A nice, off-record way of contacting me, call that number and give that code and they’ll put you though to me… I know the feeling of wanting to run – to just bolt when everything feels so crazy in your head… and it’s nice to have somewhere to run to. Somewhere safe… no questions asked, totally confidential. I know Tony’s there for you, but it doesn’t hurt to have a back-up, right?”

Peter nodded and thanked her, his mood a little more muted again.

“Especially a back-up with a copy of an illicit photograph involving a mechanical bull…”

“You’ve not?”

She winked and ruffled his hair yet again. “Stay safe, Kid.”

-o0o-

Tony and May were surprised to see Peter up and about when he came to the sofa and sat down with Tony. May was lounging in the arm-chair and gave him a welcoming smile.

“Hi May, how was work?”

“Good.”

“What are we watching?” Peter asked.

“Batman – We’ve only just started it. Seems like a dumb movie but we can start it again so you can catch up,” Tony answered, reaching for the remote.

“No that’s okay – It’s pretty good, I’ll watch it again.”

“Stupid movie,” Tony muttered.

Peter looked confused and glanced over at May who was smirking.

“Tony doesn’t like it because he thinks Batman is too - get this Peter – too unrealistic,” May said, laughing.

“You mean the billionaire super-hero part?” Peter asked, grinning at Tony.

“Or the spending millions on building super-flashy machines for fighting evil part?” May countered.

“Or the servants with the British sounding names part?,” Peter batted back.

“Or perhaps it the playboy image that’s not feeling realistic,” May added.

“A taste for ridiculously expensive cars could be it?” Peter asked her.

“Oh wait though – there’s that part where Batman is all ‘I must protect my identity and all costs’!” May said in a gravelly Batman voice.

“Rather than the more realistic ‘Hey, Everyone! I’m Tony Stark and I’m IRON-MAN!’” Peter shouted, mimicking Tony and laughing.

Tony threw a cushion at May’s laughing face.

“You can go off people, you know!” he said, grabbing Peter in an arm lock and giving Peter a noogie.

When Tony released him, still laughing, he settled comfortably against Tony’s side to watch the movie.

When they went to bed that night, Tony made the offer to sleep in the bed with him and the look of relief on Peter’s face mad him glad he’s talked to Bruce. Especially when the teen shuffled backwards so that his back pressed against his chest and he was able to wrap an arm around Peter’s waist with a clear conscience.

As somewhat clear conscience, Tony amended as Peter wiggled his hips to get comfortable.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Set-Back

Tony made the call in the lab so it would be out of earshot of his guests.

“I got your message last night, Happy.”

“Boss, I don’t know what to say…”

“How about – ‘Sorry, Tony. I fucked up and lost you a QuinJet to a known terrorist!’”

“Man, I don’t understand what happened. We ran the move schedule like it was supposed to happen but with an empty jet. The tracker showed is the route the whole way but it just didn’t land.”

“Tell me again how perfect those moving plans were?”

“At least it was empty…”

“Can you imagine what they’d gotten hold of if I hadn’t decided to stay? The suits!”

“Boss, I’m… I don’t know what to say – the guys setting the flight plan-“

“This was your responsibility, Hogan! You do not get to pass it off.”

-o0o-

When Tony came back from his lab, May, Bruce and Peter were in the kitchen, Bruce joining them for breakfast as he’s cottoned onto the fact that May was making pancakes again.

“It was nice to see Natasha last night,” Peter said over breakfast.

“Nat?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah – She visited me yesterday when she came,” Peter said, drizzling some syrup on his breakfast.

“Honey, are you sure? We were here all night,” May said, casting Bruce a worried glance. “Could this be a symptom?”

“What? It was just Nat, she came in for a chat,” Peter said, confused.

“Honey, I don’t think she was…” May said, delicately.

“You saw her though, right?” Peter asked Tony and Bruce. Bruce shook his head.

“No.. Sorry Kid, she’s still on the run and I’m assuming she’s hooked up with Cap, Wanda and Barton… but before you both get your knickers in a twist remember this is Nat we’re talking about and she likes to play games with me,” Tony said. “Friday, did Romanoff enter the building yesterday?”

“No, Boss.”

Tony sniffed. “Friday, do you have any unexplained data errors from yesterday’s logs?”

“There are no recorded data errors.”

“Re-assess,” Tony ordered.

“Analysing… Boss, I’ve detected an anomaly, my records indicate that-” Friday’s voice became garbled and then cut-off. A video of Black Widow in an elevator started to play on the main screen in the kitchen and in the living room. It looked like it had been taken by an elevator’s CCTV camera. Natasha was there and had a panel open and had wired up a computer to the circuits inside. She turned to the camera.

“Hey, Stark. Just thought I’d pop by and give my spider-bro some well-wishes. He’s a good kid – look after him. And if he gets really down send me a text, I got a pic of something I know will really cheer him up. Oh, and Stark? 2 out of 10 for the security in the east goods elevator. Poor show.” She grinned and the screen went blank again.

“Correction – No anomaly has been detected,” Friday concluded pointlessly.

Peter snorted and threw a hand over his mouth.

Tony signed. “Thank you, Friday… Oh, and schedule us a full security overhaul of your programming tomorrow will you?”

“Yes, Boss,” Friday answered obediently and obliviously.

“Oh, she’s getting better,” Banner said while Peter giggled.

“Well, that was nice of her to call around,” May said with a smile looking at Peter, happy to see him laughing.

“You’re looking a bit better today,” Bruce said once they’d finished their breakfast. “Want to try something new?”

“Like what?” Peter asked.

“EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories… It’s used quite commonly for PTSD. Tony’s had it.”

Peter looked towards Tony who didn’t look convinced. “Bruce – Are you sure he’s ready for that?”

“Some of the trauma is quite fresh, if we can get him to process it sooner rather than later, it’ll help in the long run,” Bruce answered. “It’s up to you though,” he said looking back at Peter.

Peter again looked over to Tony.

“Hey, it’s pretty tough, but you’ll need to do it sometime and if it’s better now… Kinda like ripping off a band-aid…”

“What we’ll do is go through one of the traumas you’ve experienced, and at the same time do something called bilateral stimulation – moving your eyes from side to side or tapping your hands alternately. Whatever we find works for you best. But what it does is it lets your brain process the events properly.”

“It did help me with the nightmares… It’s like it unblocks whatever is stopping you processing the memories so you brain doesn’t have to try and do it while you sleep,” Tony explained.

“That’s what the recurrent nightmares are - your brain trying to process the trauma over and over,” Bruce continued.

“The problem is you can start reliving it… and while Bruce will try to keep you in the present, it’s going to be hard,” Tony advised.

“You can say no,” May said, touching Peter’s arm.

“I’ll give it a try… If Tony says it helps…” Peter said with a shrug.

-o0o-

May excused herself to go to work and Tony again made himself scarce, heading off to the main office to explain to Pepper why the sale of the Tower was on hold. It seemed the Japanese buyers were getting twitchy.

When he returned, Bruce was staring out over the city, clearly waiting for him. As always, the bedroom door was shut with Peter inside it.

“Wow…” Tony said, as Bruce turned. “You look like you have bad news.”

“That didn’t go well.”

“Fuck,” Tony said, sitting down on the sofa as Bruce joined him. “How bad.”

“We went over what I thought was a lesser trauma – or at least what I thought was one of the smaller memories. I got it all wrong, Tony. You were right – he wasn’t ready for that.”

“Can you tell me what it was?” Tony asked.

“It was the scolding you gave him after the after the Staten Island Ferry thing,” Bruce said.

“Ah, shit…” Tony said, wiping his palm down his face.

“I though as it was safer than the other memories,” Bruce said holding up his hands. “It was more recent, it was one of the things I knew you’d discussed with him without event and it wasn’t his uncle’s death or the fresh hard-core trauma of the suicide attempts,” he reasoned.

“But as soon as he started talking I knew I’d fucked up… He got pulled into the memory so fast… I tried to ground him but nothing worked. It was a panic attack but also an acute… disassociation. He didn’t seem to know where he was, who I was and his flight response kicked right in. Luckily we did the session in the bedroom and the bomb blast shutters kept him in and Friday locked down the door for me.”

“Oh, man…” Tony groaned.

“And because he couldn’t escape, the fight response kicked in. That kid is damn strong and I’m lucky the adrenaline in him was making his shake so bad… He threw me across the room with a shove and I swear, Tony, I felt the big-guy raise his head, so I got myself out of there…”

“Is he-”

“He’s okay – Friday’s monitoring his vitals and I’ve had her enable the security cam in your bedroom. He’s just lying on the bed. The worst is over, but I’m guessing it’s left him hyperaroused – he’s going to be prone to bursts of anger and irritability so I’m not the guy that can go in there, right now,” Bruce said, covering his face with his hands.

Tony nodded, getting up. “You did you’re best, Bruce… Don’t beat yourself up about it.” 

“Friday, get Peter’s sentry suits back down here,” Tony ordered. He felt he was right back at square one.

With the sentry suits in place, Tony knocked on his bedroom door and let himself in.

“Hey,” he said, greeting the lump in the bed.

There was no response so he went to sit on the bed.

“Can I get you anything? Sandwich? Candy? Bottle of rum? Bag of puppies?”

“Just leave me alone.”

“Okay… but just know I’m here if you need me.”

Tony came back out of the bedroom and shook his head at Bruce.

“Let’s give him time,” Bruce said.

That night after further attempts had been made – May with a plate of food and Tony to clear away a broken chair and mirror Peter’s fight had caused, Tony eventually came to bed.

“You want me in the bed with you?” Tony asked, slipping off his shoes.

“Leave me alone,” came the now repetitive response.

Feeling hurt beyond what he could reason, Tony grabbed a sheet and pillow from the cupboard and set up camp on the sofa again.

It took him a while to get to sleep, only to be woken in the early hours by the strange feeling he was being watched.

When he opened his eyes he saw Peter standing there. Despite standing over him, he looked small and vulnerable.

“Nightmares?” Tony asked.

Peter gave a little nod.

Without a moment of hesitance, Tony lifted the sheet he had over him and shuffled back to make a little more room on the small sofa.

Peter climbed into the space silently, but clearly grateful as he curled up against Tony’s chest for the rest of the night. Tony wrapped his arms around the young man and wondered at the feeling of contentment that washed over him.


	8. Chapter 8 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The following day Peter refused breakfast and his session with Bruce, and it was all Tony could do to coax May out of the door to go to work with assurances there was nothing more that she could do than what was already being done.

By 2pm Peter was still not out of the room and Tony decided to bring out the big guns.

Preparation in place, he walked into the room and pulled the sheets off Peter’s body, getting a stream of abuse as greeting.

“Come on, you! In the shower, you stink! Now!” Tony said as the grumbles diminished and Peter threw a pillow over his own head in childish resistance.

“Shower, NOW! Then I make you food. Go!”

Peter’s arms slumped and he pulled the pillow away from his head.

“If I shower and eat then you’ll leave me alone?” Peter bargained.

“Yep, that’s the deal.”

Peter climbed out of the bed with a muttered curse, grabbed whatever clean t-shirt and joggers he could lay his hands on and sloped off into the bathroom.

Tony smiled and started to clean up the room ready for the visitor.

Peter came out of the en-suite carrying his t-shirt and froze at the sight of Ned sat on the bed.

Ned stood up, looking nervous. “Hey, Pete,” he said.

Peter stayed silent, looking scared and awkward as his friend stepped forward.

Ned seemed to flounder for a moment, neither boy knowing how to act, until Ned held out his hand, ready to receive Peter’s grip. Automatically Peter reached out and they played out their usual handshake, a smile coming to both their faces as they ended the shake with pointed fingers.

“Look what Mister Stark gave me on the way in!” Ned said, turning back to the bed, he held up a big box.

“Whoah!” Peter said. “ Is that...”

“A 7,541-piece Lego Millennium Falcon, Peter! Do you know how much this cost?! Come on get dressed. We can’t build this on a bed, and we need light, plus Mister Stark promised me pizza!”

Tony was nowhere to be seen when Peter and Ned exited the bedroom, and Ned wasted no time in setting the box down on the open floor near the window. Peter joined him on the floor and with a growing sense of eagerness, started pulling out the bags of brand new Lego.

Ten minutes later they were interrupted by DUM-E whizzing out of the elevator with a stack of Pizza Hut boxes.

From the lab, Tony transferred a security cam still of Peter and Ned building the Lego to his phone. There was slice of pizza hanging from Peter’s mouth as he held up a half built structure so Ned could add a piece.

The message to May accompanying the photo read, “Secret Weapon…”

When May came back to the tower, she found Peter in the armchair, watching TV and Tony attempting to cook dinner. Seeing him out of the bedroom and seemingly entertained by what he was watching she gave a big sigh of relief and went right over to Tony, pulling the man into a hug, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. “Thank you so much.”

Tony smiled and hugged her back putting down the spatula and embracing her in return, sharing in the relief they both felt. He laughed and turned them feeling joyful, bringing his back to Peter and allowing May to look over his shoulder to where Peter was sitting looking at them.

Her smile dropped immediately at the look of hatred on Peter’s face. Sudden realisation swept over her and she pulled back from the hug, forcing a smile for Tony’s behalf.

“How about I finish off dinner and you go watch some TV with Peter,” May suggested. She smiled over at Peter who didn’t respond. Instead he got up and joined Tony on the sofa as soon as he sat down.

They ate dinner in front of the TV once May had salvaged it. She watched as Peter edged closer to Tony throughout the evening ending with a bold move claiming discomfort and lying down with his head in Tony’s lap.

Tony rested his hand down onto Peter’s waist while watching the movie and he cast her a glance. The message was clear – ‘He’s mine!’

She smiled at him, amused at his antics, but knowing he was feeling vulnerable if he thought his own aunt would try something with the guy Peter had been crushing on since puberty.

She excused herself before the end of the film, claiming the need for an early night. Peter needed some space.

That night, Peter pulled Tony straight to the bed brokering no question on anyone sleeping on the sofa. He curled up close as soon a Tony lowered the lights and Tony ran fingers through the boy’s hair, wondering at the sudden clinginess.

Tony wasn’t going to argue, though, feeling a sense of contentment as he wrapped his arms around the young man and nestled his face into the boy’s hair, knowing at least tonight Peter was safe.

Tony woke around 2am to the sounds of whimpering and the Kid moving in his arms, limbs twitching involuntarily as his body attempted to live out the scenario in his mind.

“Tony… Tony!” Peter sobbed, still asleep as Tony attempted to soothe him.

“Shhusshhh. It’s okay, Peter. You’re safe. Everyone’s okay,” He said quietly, hoping his voice would reach Peter’s subconscious before he woke.

“Tony, I’m sorry… I’m sorry!” Peter gasped, twisting in his arms more forcefully. It would only be a matter of time before Peter’s thrashing became uncontrollable.

“Peter, Pete, come on baby,” Tony said, unconscious of the endearment. “Come on, wake up. You’re safe, you’re with me. Home in bed. Everything’s okay,” Tony said, rubbing along Peter’s arms and back in a soothing manner.

Peter jumped in his arms, not the fear crazed leap from the bed like before, but the shock of awakening from a terrifying ordeal to a quiet, dark room.

“I got you, Pete. You’re fine. Everyone’s okay. Just a nightmare,” Tony soothed, running his hands through Peter’s hair. “You’re home in bed and I’m with you.”

Tony felt Peter’s breathing start to settle, but then the tears came, the teen sobbing into Tony’s T-shirt, and Tony held on tight, remembering how he was always alone for this part.

-o0o-

Tony woke with his nose pressed into Peter’s hair, his arms wrapped around Peter’s slim chest, the teen’s head resting on his arm.

All of this was okay… What wasn’t okay was the hard-on he was currently sporting that was pressed against Peter’s backside, or the entwined legs that were going to make it tricky to escape the situation.

Tony lay there frozen for a moment. If he moved Peter might wake and find a hard cock against the crack of his ass – not good. He could just go back to sleep, he reasoned, looking at the situation he was in… He closed his eyes and made a momentary attempt, opening them in under thirty seconds.

That wouldn’t work.

Tony mentally cursed. That definitely wouldn’t work, he admitted to himself.

It wouldn’t work because he had a young, attractive teenager pressing his ass against his cock in his own bed. Fuck.

He closed his eyes again and thought of Fury… Thought of Fury naked. He tried to conjure up the mental image of anything and everything disgusting, hoping that it would have an effect on his currently bodily predicament. Unfortunately, the feel of Peter’s stomach against his finger-tips where his hand lay, and the smell of the young man’s hair was overriding even the worst things he could think of.

And now he was conscious of how his fingertips touched Peter’s smooth skin, where the boy’s t-shirt had reared up in the night, his fingers twitched, making Peter rouse slightly, then settle again.

It was no good. Tony would have to move. He pulled his hips as far back as he could before slowly detangling their legs. The hardest part was slipping his arm from under the sleeping teen, shushing the young man when he roused with Tony’s name on his lips.

As soon as he was free Tony made his escape to the en-suite in case Peter looked up to find him tenting in his underwear.

It wasn’t Tony’s proudest moment when he stood under the shower spray and braced himself with one hand against the shower wall while his other hand came to his cock. And with the sense memory of Peter’s lithe body pressed against him was fresh in his mind, Tony came disturbingly quickly.

“New low, Tony… New low,” Tony muttered to himself as his release washed off the tile wall.

-o0o-

“Morning,” Tony said, almost too chirpily when Peter came out of the bedroom.

“Hi,” Peter responded to both Tony and Bruce.

“Bruce here came early in the hope your aunt was making eggs, but she’s has gone to work, so you’re both getting cereal without complaint,” Tony said as Peter took a seat at the breakfast bar.

“That’s fine,” Peter said, grabbing the juice. Bruce grumbled.

“See, Bruce… without complaint… Anyway, as Bruce is here early, why don’t you do your session then I’ll take you down to the lab and we can tinker with some tech?” Tony asked.

“Yeah! That would be great Mister Stark!” Peter said, finding some enthusiasm.

“Okay, come down to the lab door when you’ve finished,” Tony instructed.

“You are honoured. Only the super-nerds get to go in there…” Bruce teased.

“Hey! I qualify,” Peter said with a smile, pointing at the completed Lego Falcon on the table.

Bruce held up his hands. “I stand corrected,” he laughed.

Bruce received a text after Peter’s session. ‘Made it a short one, worked on some tamer stuff. B.”

As he read it, Peter appeared at the glass door.

“Let him in, Friday.”

“Hey. Good session?”

Peter shrugged, already looking around with interest.

“Want the tour and then you can help me calibrate a new type of flight-repulsor?” Tony asked.

Peter nodded, keenly. 

“Okay, so over here is my main workstations – most of the design happens here, back there is where the boys hang out,” Tony said pointing to the wall of suits.

“Over there are the robots – ignore DUM-E, he’s still an idiot,” Tony said as the robot in question perked up at the attention.

“Few work benches… working on some more tweaks to Rhodey’s suit to support the legs and that’s a satellite I’m playing with for fun,” he said walking around the workshop.

“Cool,” Peter said as he inspected the satellite.

“This is the junk corner,” Tony said. “My tools are over here categorised with OCD level neatness, and over there are bay doors to the automated production facility I have a floor below… Pete?” Tony asked, noting Peter had stopped in his tracks.

“I’ve got a bit of a headache coming on, Mister Stark… mind if I head back up?” Peter asked, already heading for the door.

Tony stopped, confused and looked around for what could have caused Peter’s sudden change mood and eyes halted on the confiscated Spider-Man suit balled up in the area he’d just called the ‘Junk Corner’.

“Ah, damn it... Peter!” Tony called out, but the door to the lab was already closing behind the kid.

Tony dropped his head and swore.

Peter had retreated again to the bedroom and refused lunch and May returned from work to find Tony looking dejected on the sofa.

“He’s gone down-hill again?” May asked, taking her jacket off.

“Yeah… This time it was my fault… I’m an idiot. He saw his suit all screwed up in the lab, where I’d thrown it after taking it off him.”

“Ah…” She said in understanding.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

She put her hands in her pockets. “Look… while he’s still in there and we can talk, I think I need to go back to the apartment unless you really think you need me… But I think you and Bruce have everything in hand.”

Tony looked surprised.

“You know you’re welcome to stay as long as you want. I just assumed that you’d want to stay close…”

“I think it would be best for Peter if I went. I know you and Peter have been getting closer and I really see that’s helping, I’m just a little worried,” she tried explaining with an awkward expression.

“About what?”

“I think he’s a little jealous at the moment and with how he’s over-analysing everything and he’s so up and down…”

“Jealous?” Tony said. “I don’t understand.”

“Please don’t be offended. I’m sure you won’t be, but… It’s just when I hugged you last night Peter gave me this look of total jealousy… and you must have noticed him getting really close with you watching the film afterward.

“Of you?! He’s jealous of you?!” Tony asked in shock.

May cocked her head, wondering how the man could be so oblivious.

“You were his first crush… you still are. He looks at you like you hung the stars, Tony. You didn’t notice?”

“I thought it was hero worship!” Tony said. A second later a thought occurred.

“May! I’ve been sleeping in the same bed as him!”

“For the nightmares, I know – Bruce and I discussed it and we both think it’s the best thing for him. If anything it’s a happy distraction, and we know he safe with you.”

“Yes, he is… but you should know I’m not… entirely straight.”

“We’re a similar age don’t forget – I read all the gossip magazines at the time… was it true about you, Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe?”

“That was tabloid gossip!” Tony defended. May waited for an answer. “Okay. Yeah…” he admitted.

May laughed and then something dawned on him.

“Ohh!” he said, palming his face again. “I have a magic talent for unwittingly making situations worse… I used to tease him all the time about his ‘surprisingly attractive aunt’. It made him uncomfortable and I thought it was funny – I’m a jerk.”

“Well, I’m flattered, but yeah. That couldn’t have helped and more reason for me to head back to the apartment and give him some room-”

May was interrupted by the AI’s alert.

“Boss! Peter is in respiratory distress!” Friday called out. The AI took immediate control of one of the sentry suits and burst into the bedroom.

They both leapt up and Tony raced to the bedroom, overtaking the suit as it paused to locate the teen.

Peter wasn’t in the bedroom, so had to be in the bathroom.

Tony flung open the door to find a nightmare of his own. Tony’s oversized bath was full to overflowing, the tap still flooding out water and floating face down, fully clothed, was Peter.

Tony lunged for the boy, dragging him out and was helped by the suit under Friday’s control.

“Hold him upside down to get the water out of his lungs!” May shouted. The suit was dangling Peter upside down by his ankles a moment later.

Tony banged against Peter’s back, not knowing if it was the right thing to do, but desperate to do anything.

“Friday, get Bruce!” Tony shouted as water drained out from Peter’s lungs.

“He’s already on his way, Boss!”

Two more hard slaps to the back and Peter coughed, spluttering and vomiting up water.

There was a strangled cry of “NO!” from the boy as Bruce burst into the room with bags of medical equipment.

“He’s breathing? Get him on the floor!” Bruce commanded and Peter started to fight them weakly.

“Leave me alone!” Peter sobbed, coughing.

Bruce pulled out a small oxygen bottle and fitted a mask to it, getting it over Peter’s nose and mouth as soon as he could. May and Tony tried their best to hold back Peter’s hands as he tried to get the mask off his face. Luckily Peter seemed temporarily weakened.

“Come on, Pete. Don’t fight us…” Tony begged.

“How long was he under the water?” Bruce asked.

“Not long – Friday detected respiratory distress and we were in here moments later.”

“Hopefully no lasting damage, then,” Bruce said, helping hold back Peter’s pawing hands.

“Petey! Don’t make me bring Igor in here!” Tony threatened.

“Please, baby… Don’t fight,” May begged and snagged the plug out of the bath just in case he got away from them and tried to get back to the water.

Peter seemed to slump and their words, knowing he was beaten.

“Come on, let’s get him dry and in the bed. That water was cold,” Bruce said.

Tony hauled Peter up and then picked him up bridal style as May gathered towels and followed them into the bedroom, laying the towels down before Tony gently placed the still coughing boy on them.

May started stripping Peter’s pants and Tony ripped off the t-shirt at the neckline, so they didn’t interrupt the flow of oxygen.

Tony and May worked fast to towel Peter down, ignoring how the teen tried to curl in on himself and finally they settled him under the blankets to warm.

“Tony, I need you to go to my floor and bring me another O2 and the blood oxygen monitor – I forgot it in the rush.”

On Tony’s return, he watched Bruce attached the machine to his finger and start taking readings.

“You got a lot of medical equipment on the ready in your rooms, Banner,” Tony observed.

“Well, you know what they say - Hope for the best, plan for the worst,” Bruce said, looking up at him briefly as he worked.

“Good news…I don’t think we’ll need to intubate and there’s no real sign of hypoxemia – I think he’ll be good, I just want to keep the oxygen on for an hour or so, just in case. You got to him quick.”

“We got a long talk tomorrow, buddy,” he said to Peter who turned his head to the side and looked away.

Bruce looked back at Tony and May.

“I don’t want to sedate while he’s recovering, so let’s take shifts with him tonight. Its best there’s someone awake with him until morning.”

“You go first,” Tony said, getting to his feet. “I’ve got something I need to do.” May took Peter’s side in his place.

Tony returned from his lab a few minutes later carrying a sledge hammer and walked into the bathroom.

The rest of them heard the repeated smash of stone and marble, and Peter flinched with every strike until Tony reappeared a few minutes later. All three of them looked at him.

He sniffed, still holding the over-sized hammer over his shoulder. “No more bath... I’ve been meaning to redecorate anyway...”


	9. Chapter 9 - Back in the Suit

At 9am, May brought them in coffee. Bruce lay on the sofa, and Tony sat on the bed, his back against the headboard, Peter’s head in his lap and Tony’s arm possessively around Peter’s slim shoulders.

“Thanks,” he said, accepting the coffee as Peter slept on.

“Any more nightmares?” she asked quietly.

“Not since Tony stepped in as teddy-bear,” Bruce said with a smile. It had been a rough night, nightmares plaguing the boy as soon as he drifted off to sleep.

May smiled at Tony and sipped her coffee, conscious of the discussion they’d been having before they’d got Friday’s alarm call.

“What do we do now?” May asked, quietly.

“More of the same,” Bruce replied softly. “Daily treatments, keep him here safe… Take it one day at a time,” Bruce said. “I know it feels like we’re back at square one, but this was always going to be a roller-coaster of good and bad days… We need to just keep chipping at his self-doubt, work on the therapy and fine tune the meds.”

“I’m going to give him his suit back… he might not be ready for it yet, but he needs to know there’s a future waiting for him,” Tony said in a low voice.

“And I’ll head back to the apartment as we discussed. He’s the safest he can be in your hands, Tony.”

Tony nodded.

-o0o-

In the following days, they did just that. Tony brought Peter’s suit and hung it in the wardrobe as Peter watched. He also presented Peter with some specs for a new pair of web-shooter’s that used Tony’s suit tech to attach to the wrists, promising him they’d work on them together in the lab whenever Peter felt ready.

May spent less time at the Tower, usually being with Peter while Tony was out or in the lab, but showered Peter with motherly affection on each visit.

They put in place more semi-permanent solutions, knowing the process would take time, so a daily tutor visit was slotted in before Bruce’s therapy session to keep up his education.

And Bruce started to make inroads with his therapy, and Peter began to head down to the lab after his sessions rather than brooding in the bedroom.

Slowly but surely they started making progress.

Peter began to start talking his sessions through with Tony while they worked on the web-shooters or whatever project needed their attention, and Tony felt this was a big step forward to let him into the teen’s thoughts.

Peter and Tony’s bond continued to grow and Tony quietly killed the sale of the Tower for good. Even if Peter got to the point he’d be fit and well enough to return to his aunt’s apartment, he knew he didn’t want to be far away from the young man.

Not that he even wanted Peter to leave his Tower… or even his bed.

It was this realisation that made Tony seek Bruce out for advice.

“I’m getting attached,” Tony confessed to Bruce one day while Ned kept Peter company in the other room.

“That’s not really a surprise, Tony,” Bruce had responded.

“No, but the problem is that it’s not entirely a paternal feeling I have for him… And I know from May that Pete’s attracted to me,” he’d confessed, looking at his friend and hoping Bruce wouldn’t judge him too harshly.

“You thinking of acting on that feeling?” Bruce had asked, diplomatically.

“NO! No… Just feeling guilty as fuck, but pulling away won’t be good either.”

“No, no it wouldn’t,” Bruce had agreed.

“Then what do I do?” Tony had asked.

“Get used to blue-balls,” Bruce said with a shrug. “At least until he’s healthy… and legal.”

-o0o-

There were a few more blips in mood in the following weeks, but they became fewer and further between.

However, there was one low mood notably broken with Tony and Bruce hearing a howl of laughter from the bedroom where the kid had withdrawn to so he could be alone.

They’d both dashed into the room to find Peter almost hyperventilating in hysterics on the bed.

Tony had gone straight to the teen, but Bruce’s attention had been captured by the email from Natasha that was displayed on screen in front of the bed.

“Oh my god, Tony… Is that? Is that George Clooney?” Bruce had asked, causing Tony’s head to spin around.

“I am going to kill Romanoff if I ever find her!” Tony swore as Peter held his ribs and gasped for air.

Bruce grinned, clearly enjoying his friend’s mortification. “Speaking as a doctor, that risked penile fracture and didn’t those sequins chafe?”

-o0o-

It was evening, a few weeks later and May had joined Tony and Peter for dinner to celebrate Peter finishing off his new web-shooters. Peter was showing the designs to May as Tony finished off the garlic bread in the kitchen – praising himself for not burning it.

Tony watched the happy smile on Peter’s face as May asked questions about the different functions and he was able to explain them on a technical level having built them with Tony’s guidance.

He’d just brought the dinner to the table when a large explosion rocked the Tower.

“FRIDAY!”

“There’s an attack on the tech vault, Boss. It looks like it’s the gang from the ferry incident. They seem to be using Chitari powered weaponry to blast through,” she explained urgently. “The Stark Security teams have been deployed and SHIELD have been alerted.”

Tony’s suit appeared and opened up for him automatically.

“Tony?!” Peter asked urgently.

“You two keep your heads down. Keep each other safe,” Tony shouted as he stepped back into the suit.

At that moment movement caught their eyes and they turned just in time to see the Vulture hovering outside, his large mechanical wings spread wide and green eyes staring out of the helmet at them.

A moment later he let loose a large cannon blast of blue energy at them, shattering glass across the room and hitting Tony’s suit directly in the chest. 

Peter screamed Tony’s name and covered his aunt with his body to shield her from the glass.

Tony hit the back wall of the living room and got straight back to his feet as Friday assessed the damage to the suit. “Chest armour and right shoulder at 40%, boss.”

“Don’t mind if I keep you a little busy while my team do some tech shopping in your stores, do you?” the Vulture mocked.

“Kinda do,” Tony shouted back, blasting a repulsor shot back which the Vulture dodged. Friday reeled off which of his weapons he couldn’t use due to the potential back-blast into the building that would hurt or kill May and Peter.

As if sensing his weakness, the Vulture turned the cannon towards the sofa’s where May and Peter were taking cover.

“NO!” Tony shouted, blasting himself across the room and taking the hit of the cannon blast to his back as he crouched over May and Peter.

“Right shoulder at 15%!” Friday barked.

“Get her behind the bar and then stay down!” Tony commanded, twisting around to fire back more repulsors at their attacker.

Peter used his extra strength to grab May and leap over the sofa with her as Tony drew the fire.

“Stay down!” Peter said to her as he got them behind the bar. He bobbed his head up to see Tony fly directly at the Vulture.

“I gotta help Mister Stark! Stay here!” Peter shouted, ignoring how May tried to grab at him stay down.

Peter leapt over the bar and ran to the bedroom, seeing Tony in a mid-air fight with the flying attacker, another powerful blast hit Tony’s suit, sending bits of red and gold metal falling beneath them.

Peter grabbed the new web-shooters and slipped them on, pulling himself into the suit quickly – he’d need his AI’s help with this one.

She came on-line as he pulled on the mask, already vectoring out potential pivot points to increase the speed of his attack. He shot a web at the centre of the broken window and shot through, landing a kick the Vulture’s face and swinging around for another shot as Tony struggled with him.

Peter could see that Tony’s suit was heavily damaged on the chest and right side and the Vulture got another dead-centre blast with his weapon into Tony’s chest.

“The suit’s failing, Kid. Get out of here!” Tony shouted as Peter got a second kick in, only to get lashed away by one of the large metallic wings.

Peter saved himself by shooting out a thread back to the building and swung back around to see the wings swipe at Tony, throwing him back against the side of the building.

Peter threw himself back at the Vulture to stop him getting another shot in at Tony and saw Tony’s repulsors start to fail, his mentor clinging to the edge of the building with one arm as his suit failed totally.

Peter grabbed at the Vultures helmet, dodging the swing of the razor sharp wings and trying to blast webs over the rotors in the wings to stall them, but the edge of the wings cut them easily.

He leapt back off the attacker’s shoulders throwing out a web to secure him and another at the Vulture who was already raising the cannon at Tony’s defenceless back.

“Karen, Electro-netting - Maximum!” Peter shouted as webbing surrounded the Vulture’s torso and wings, frying the wings in a jolts of white-blue electricity.

The vultures wings froze, their moving parts seized with the lightening-strength blast of electricity and suddenly silent, the vultures suit twisted and dropped, the edge of one wing catching Tony on the way down and making him lose his grip.

Tony had dropped about two stories when he felt his fall halt and then saw a second blast of webbing hit his suit.

Peter hauled Tony back up quickly and pulled him back into the building.

“Tony, Tony are you okay?” Peter shouted, trying to inspect the suit’s shoulder damage.

Tony ripped off his now non-functioning helmet and looked down the side of the building to see the mangled body of the Vulture far below them.

“I’m okay… I’m okay. Mainly suit damage,” Tony said, looking over Peter for injury as he pulled his own mask off.

Tony looked around to see May come out, scared but seemingly unhurt from behind the bar and the elevator doors open and a security team burst in lead by Happy – All too late.

“You’re okay?” Pete asked again, still sounding frantic.

“I’m fine, I’m fine – you got me,” Tony responded then was silenced as Peter grabbed his face and kissed him desperately hard on the lips.

Tony stilled in shock as Peter continued to kiss him hard for a few more moments before stilling himself, no doubt realizing what he was doing and the lack of response.

Peter pulled away with a familiar wide-eyed expression and looked around the room at the Happy, May and the gathered security team who were now all watching Spider-Man force a kiss on Iron-Man.

Peter looked horrified and before Tony could stop him, he’d let go of Tony’s face and ran through the debris to his safe-haven, the bedroom.

May had her hand over her mouth as Tony struggled out of his suit.

“Happy, stop gawping. Is the vault secure?”

“Erm, yes Boss,” Happy responded. “They’re all in custody.”

“Well, go do something about the dead bird on the sidewalk and get May a stiff drink,” he instructed. “And good job,” he added.

Tony turned to May as he pulled away his suit parts without power.

“May, I need to get after him, but I need you to know how you’d feel about this – if his feelings were reciprocated? – Legality aside for now.”

“Legality aside, and that is a real issue - I think if he was an average high-school kid and we had a normal life then yeah, I’d have real problems…But he’s not an average teen and I’ve seen how you care about him and how he feels about you.” May said, accepting the glass of whiskey Happy thrust into her shaking hand.

“If you want to make a go of it, just think hard before you do, Stark. You can’t go into this lightly – if you break his heart he might never recover.”

Tony nodded and pulled away the last of the bent metal from the damaged shoulder, stepped out and rolled his shoulder.

“Look after her, Happy,” he asked his friend and headed to the bedroom, closing the door on the chaos as soon as he was inside.

He found Peter sat on the bed, head in his hands.

“Fuck, I’m sorry Tony,” Peter said standing as Tony entered. “I just… I just reacted. I was so relieved you were okay, I- I-”

“Hey, it’s okay… No need to get anxious about this one, just breathe,” Tony said, coming up to him and putting his hands on his shoulders.

“I… I just… it’s the nightmare I have – You’re hurt in front of me, you’re bleeding and I don’t do anything to save you and I- I- it’s my fault,” the teen stuttered out, and damn, wasn’t that a familiar night-terror.

“Hey, hey… but you did. You saved my life and I’m not hurt, I’m not bleeding. Now breathe… come on, breathe.”

Peter was shaking his head, his breathing still getting faster. “I’m so sorry Mister Stark I didn’t mean to-”

Peter was cut off by Tony grabbing his face and pressing his lips against the younger man’s and the teen stilled immediately. There was nothing too sexual about the kiss, just a dry press of lips, but it had the desired effect. Peter was wide-eyed and holding his breath when Tony pulled back.

“You still have to breathe a little bit, Kid,” Tony suggested, with the play of a smile on his lips.

Peter took a deep breath as instructed but stayed speechless.

“Ok, Kid. Cards on the table. You have feelings for me?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry.”

“Hey… Seriously, that word is banned,” Tony said and took a breath.

“So what kinda feelings we talking about here? The confused teenager with hormones and a close father-figure? Or the romantic, sexual, want to have freaky sex with me kind?”

“You won’t be mad at me?” Peter asked.

“Never… there’s no wrong answer – I just need to know,” Tony promised.

“The second one,” Peter admitted.

“Okay… my cards on the table too,” Tony said with a mix of relief at the answer and trepidation of what he was about to admit in turn.

“You’re beautiful, smart and amazing, Peter, and I’ve fallen for you hard.”

Peter looked up at him with surprise.

“You like me? Like that?”

“Yeah… but there’s a rather big problem,” Tony pointed out.

“What?”

“You’re sixteen.”

“I’m seventeen in four months,” Peter said hopefully, head spinning at all that had gone on in the last ten minutes.

“Friday? What’s the age of consent for someone to date me?”

“Seventeen for a sexual relationship, Boss.”

“I know, but…” Peter tried.

“But it’s illegal Peter… I tell you what… What date are you seventeen?”

“10th of August,” Peter said.

“Friday – Book me 2 at Le Bernardin for 10th August – best table. 8pm”

“August 10th can be our first non-platonic date and I’ll try my luck and see if you want to come home with me.”

“Really? You’re not just saying this because you’re scared I’ll relapse… It’s okay to say no, I never expected-”

“Peter… I want you.”

“Wow…” Peter said, an enormous smile growing on his face. “You gonna make me wait that long, though?” Peter moaned immediately.

“You gonna promise me you’ll make that date?” Tony asked seriously. “Because you’ll break my heart if you don’t…”

“Yes… I promise,” Peter vowed.

Tony pulled the young man into a tight hug.

“We can still kiss though, right?” Peter bargained as Tony released him.

Tony paused, unsure.

“Friday, if I were to kiss a sixteen year old, would that be against the law?”

“If the kiss or any other activity is deemed platonic then it is legal. However, if the kiss is sexual in nature then it is deemed a sexual act and therefore would be against the law in the State of New York.”

“Friday, define ‘sexual in nature’,” Peter requested.

“Looking for a loop-hole?” Tony asked, smiling.

“Yes,” Peter replied, bluntly.

“If the purpose of the kiss is for sexual arousal of the recipient or the sexual gratification of the actor, then it would be deemed sexual in nature,” Friday answered.

“Great, we can kiss as long as we’re both thinking of stamp collecting or laundry or something,” Peter moaned.

“Baby, four months isn’t too long,” Tony said with a laugh.

“You start calling me things like ‘baby’ it is!” Peter groaned.

Tony laughed again, flattered by Peter’s frustration and pleased Peter liked his endearment.

“But we’ve already kissed. Why would it matter? Unless you don’t want me to…” Peter asked, doubt flashing over his face.

“Hey, hey!” Tony said, cupping Peter’s face bringing the teen’s face up to his. “I do want to… Peter, I may be jumping the gun here as our first date is in four months’ time, but I love you.”

“You love me?” Peter asked in a weak, hopeful voice.

“Yeah, and I want to do a hell of a lot more than kiss you, and the problem is, if I start kissing you it will lead somewhere else… fast.”

Peter smiled and looked teary.

“I can still hold you,” Tony said, pulling Peter into a hug.

“Yeah? We’ll you better be thinking of climate change or the stock market because my groin is pressed against your hip,”

“Ah fuck,” Tony said, pulling back a little.

“Oh, come on this is stupid! There’s bound to be a loop-hole,” Peter moaned.

Tony laughed and pressed a platonic kiss into the teen’s hair.

“Come on, let’s go make sure they sort out this mess and show your aunt you’re okay.”

Peter was met with a hug from his aunt as soon as he stepped out of the bedroom and she fussed over him until she was sure he was unharmed.

“Oh, Peter, you were amazing!” she cooed to Peter’s bright smile.

“Yeah, great to see you back in that suit, Pete,” Tony added with a wink and a glance down at the younger man’s body.

Peter blushed as Tony had expected and May raised an eyebrow at him.

“May, Pete and I have come to an agreement… on the day it becomes legal to do so, I’ll be taking your nephew on a date… Don’t expect him home that night,” Tony said with a smirk.

“TONY!” Peter exclaimed and May laughed.

“It’s okay, Peter – You deserve some happiness after all of this,” she said looking around the mess. “What now?”

“Well… As dinner is now a Jackson Pollock across the back wall, and there’s a rather strong breeze in here, I suggest we go out for dinner then use one of the other floors tonight to sleep,” Tony suggested.

“I’ll go get some clothes on,” Peter said, looking down at his tight fitting suit.

“You don’t have to,” Tony said with another wink and watched Peter smile shyly and go red again before disappearing back off to the bedroom.

“You gonna keep that up until he’s seventeen?” May asked.

“Well beyond that,” Tony promised. “If one of us doesn’t make it that far it will be frustration, not depression to blame,” he added with a grin.


	10. Chapter 10 - The Loop-Hole

Over the next few days Tony settled himself with hugs and sleeping in the same bed being allowed, as necessary care for Peter’s mental well-being, but stuck-fast on the no-kissing rule, much to Peter’s lament.

Having been out of the Tower to fight the Vulture and then for dinner, it seemed senseless to keep Peter inside, especially as the young man’s mood was elevated knowing Tony returned his feelings. Bruce had happily signed off Peter’s freedom and encouraged getting some exercise.

So after his tutoring and sessions Peter would go for a walk and then join Tony in his lab later, glad of the time to get some air and think… Especially the kind of thinking he’d been doing the past few days.

On one such walk, Tony received a phone call, and picked up immediately seeing it was Peter.

“Peter?”

“Everything is fine. I promise, but I’d like you to meet me on Ellis Island if you can?”

“Ellis Island?”

“Yes. Consider it an educational trip. Can you come?”

“Okay – I’ll suit it over. I’m only 5 minutes away, that way.”

“Cool. I’m by the flag-pole.”

“You gonna tell me what this is about?”

“I told you – It’s educational…”

Several minutes later, Tony walked up to the low wall that looked out over the water. In the distance, a Staten Island Ferry chugged along the bay and Tony wondered what had brought Peter here.

“I parked by the café… There’s a crowd gathered around the suit already so it will keep the tourists off my back for a while,” Tony said in greeting, Peter turned and smiled at him.

“So why we here?” Tony asked looking around.

“Because I was cold out here in the wind and I wanted you to keep me warm,” Peter teased. Tony pulled him close from behind and put warm arms around him anyway.

“And the real reason?”

“Ah… now here’s the educational part of the trip I promised… You ready? I’ve done lots of reading you’ll be impressed,” Peter said gleefully.

“I’m always impressed,” Tony said, pressing a quick kiss to the back of Peter’s hair.

“Well, I was out walking and thinking and headed south and ended up at the ferry port and I’d never been here so… Anyway, I started doing a little research on my phone,” Peter said.

“I found out that New York and New Jersey came to an agreement in 1834 to give New York the rights to all islands in this whole water channel including both Ellis Island and Liberty Island, but splitting rights to the actual water channel in half so each side could build docks on their own land.”

“I’m fascinated so far,” Tony remarked, drolly. He didn’t know what Peter was up to, but to have the young man in his arms like this felt wonderful.

“I knew you would be...” Peter commented, not being put off. “Now between the 1890s and 1934, Ellis Island was expanded through land reclamation and became a major immigration centre and it was the federal government who paid for that work despite it being still considered part of New York.”

“Absolutely enthralling story – This is what you do for fun? Do you need me to buy you a Play-Station or something?” Tony asked.

“We’ve not got to the best bit yet,” Peter said, shushing Tony. “In 1998 the United States Supreme Court case determined that roughly 90% of Ellis Island was part of New Jersey rather than New York due to the reclamation… Interesting, right? So where we’re sitting here is New Jersey – but if we moved about fifty feet that way we’d be in New York. That’s how close the state lines are. What do you think to that?”

“That’s… Wow. What do I think to that? Well, that’s a question…”

“But wait… there’s more…” Peter promised, happily.

“More? I think I may have had too much excitement already,” Tony laughed, shaking his head.

“The best bit… In New Jersey – where we’re currently stood – on this very spot - the age of consent for sexual conduct is 16 years old. This applies to both heterosexual and homosexual conduct. And this means that a person who is 16 years old can generally consent to have sex with any adult, regardless of age,” Peter said brightly.

Tony stared at him for a moment.

“Loop-hole?” Tony asked, hopefully.

“Massive, massive, just 5 minutes from the Tower kinda loop-hole… with hotels that have beds…” Peter confirmed.

“Beds, huh? Oh, you genius,” Tony praised, turning the teen around in his arms.

Peter grinned and looked up at him. “I know. Now kiss me while I’m in New Jersey.”

Tony took his time, looking over the smiling face of his young boyfriend. He cupped Peter’s face in one hand stroked his cheek with his thumb.

“How’d I get this lucky?”

“It’s weird, isn’t it? If things had been okay, if I’d been strong enough to cope,” Peter started.

“Hey, you know it’s not strength-” Tony interrupted, still stroking Peter’s cheek.

“Yeah… sorry – just still the process of deconstructing those kinds of thoughts, but if things hadn’t all gone wrong, then I’d still be alone,” Peter said.

“Well, you’re not now,” Tony replied quietly and slowly pressed his lips against Peters in a soft, gentle kiss.

Tony felt Peter’s hands tighten on his jacket and Peter push into the kiss needily. He wrapped his free arm around the teen further, feeling protective urges at the realisation Peter was so inexperienced.

He continued to kiss Peter tenderly and kept the pace slow, letting Peter adjust to the new intimacy. But when he felt his own libido start to demand more he pulled back, giving a few little soft kisses before pulling back to speak.

“You okay?” Tony asked as Peter slowly opened his eyes. Tony was gratified to see the young man looked dazed with the effects of the kiss.

“Very okay,” Peter said. “That was nice… can I have some more?” Peter asked grinning up at him.

“I want to do this properly,” Tony said. “I want to treat you right and take you on a date, like you deserve.”

“That sounds nice, but I’m okay with just checking into a hotel, too,” Peter said hopefully.

“This is what I get for dating a teenager,” Tony laughed. “No… Here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll meet you in the lobby of the Tower at 7:30pm. I’m going to take you to dinner somewhere nice so wear a suit.”

“I don’t have a suit,” Peter laughed. “You don’t have to do all this – you know I’m a sure-thing, right?”

“You deserve a little wooing,” Tony argued. “Just raid my closet like usual.”

“Everything you have is baggy on me and I don’t have a suit of my own… we could just go to Pizza Hut…”

“You’re right… I’ll have someone waiting at the Tower for you when you get back. So… 7:30pm in the lobby, dinner and then I’ll whisk you to New Jersey and…” Tony paused mid-sentence. “I’ll do whatever you want me to…”

“I’m serious about this bit, Pete,” Tony said, stroking Peter’s cheek again. “I know we just found out we can actually have that kind of relationship legally, but it doesn’t me we have to. We can take it slow, spending the evening just kissing you would be wonderful.”

“If you’re putting me in some silly suit I think you should be peeling it off me later.”

“Peeling… definitely yes to peeling,” Tony said nodding enthusiastically.

“Are you okay if I go off and make some arrangements? You want me to send a car for you?”

“I’m fine… I’ll walk back. Won’t take me long,” Peter said. “But I can have another kiss before you go, right?”

Tony smiled and brought his other hand up to frame Peter’s face. Tony had made a point of their first real kiss being sweet and unthreatening, but with Peter’s insistence that there was going to be intimacy later he wanted to give Peter a taste of what was waiting for him.

Tony started the kiss slowly again, but this time made sure it was clear he was in charge. He tilted Peter head to the perfect angle and ran his tongue over the younger man’s lip, waiting for the moment Peter moaned into his mouth before deepening the kiss. He used slow strokes of his tongue over Peter’s own tongue and lips before giving little nips at the teen’s bottom lip before diving back in to kiss the young man more forcefully.

By the time he pulled away, Peter was clinging to him and pressing his hips against him with obvious bodily interest against his thigh.

“Are you sure you don’t want to just check-in at the nearest Holiday Inn?” Peter asked as soon as he’d managed to calm down enough to speak.

“7:30,” Tony said with a smug smile, stepping back from Peter. In truth, he wanted to do exactly what Peter was offering, but this was going to be the Kid’s first time, so he was going to do it right.

He gave Peter a wink, turned and walked back to his suit, arguing with himself the whole way not to go back for a third kiss.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Date

Peter took a few deep breaths and adjusted his tie in the elevator mirror for the eighth time since the 68th floor.

While he was nervous, it was a good nervous Peter had not felt in a while. He’d called May as soon as he’s seen Tony fly off back to the city and she met him back at the lobby when he’d returned – along with one stylist, three assistants and eight racks of suits.

They’d taken a separate elevator from the stylists and the racks of clothes and Peter was able to fill her in on what he’s found out, hoping dearly she would be cool with it.

“So you initiated it? This whole suggestion of going to New Jersey?” May had asked.

“Yes. I knew there had to be a loop-hole and it was killing me because Tony is so strict about the kissing – I get, like, the odd kiss in my hair and that’s it!” Peter had whinged.

“And the date tonight? That his suggestion or yours?” May had asked, worried that Tony might be rushing him.

“His,” Peter answered.

May had frowned but as Peter started talking again she’d rolled her eyes.

“I wanted us to check in to the nearest cheap hotel, but he was all about ‘treating me right’ and saying I deserved a nice date,” Peter said.

“You total horn-dog, Peter Parker!” she’d accused. “You are sixteen and while I know it’s legal in the State of new Jersey and I know you’re keen - you don’t have to rush right in to anything…”

“Oh, not you too, Aunt May! Tony’s already told me we don’t have to do anything. He actually suggested we spend the night kissing. Can you believe it? America’s most eligible bachelor who’s been sleeping next to me for the last month and he thinks I’m not going to want to climb him…”

Peter had covered his own mouth with his hand on seeing her eyebrows raise. “Oh, sorry Aunt May… I’m just feeling a little giddy with it all and you know how my mouth runs off.”

She’s smiled, shook her head and started rummaging in her purse.

“Here… we had THE talk some time ago, but don’t expect him to have any,” she’d said pushing a box of condoms and a few sachets of lube into her nephews hand.

“You have lube, Aunt May?” Peter had asked, blushing.

“Do you really want the details?”

“No!” Peter corrected. “No, I don’t,” he’d said.

The elevator came to a halt at the lobby and Peter straightened his suit jacket.

With the Stylist’s advice, Peter had opted for a classic single buttoned, black, slim-fitting suit with a skinny tie and white shirt. He’s been quite overwhelmed with the suit, the watch, the belt the shoes… there seemed to be an assistant for each, but when he came out of the bedroom fully dressed, the look on May’s face made him know it was a good pick.

“Oh, you’re going to knock him dead,” She’d said.

He stepped out of the elevator trying not to show the hesitation he felt. However that anxiety was somewhat diminished when Tony was there, waiting for him. He turned and smiled, looking Peter all the way down and up again then stepped forward to greet him.

“How am I supposed to eat tonight when you look so damn delicious?” Tony asked quietly in his ear.

“It’s your own fault, you arranged the suit and you coulda had a whole damn buffet at the holiday Inn,” Peter snarked in good humour. In truth he was over the moon by Tony’s hungry reaction.

Tony took Peter by the hand and led him out to the Bugatti Veyron that was waiting outside.

“You’re driving?” Peter asked.

“Just the way there. I’ll have Happy pick the car up in the morning. I love it – he gets terrified every time he has to drive it,” Tony said, opening the passenger door for Peter.

“I’m not the girl, you know,” Peter said with a half-laugh.

Tony stopped and leaned back on the car, blocking Peter’s entry.

“I know you’re new to this but there’s something you should know,” Tony said, taking hold of Peter’s hand again. “I want to treat you like you’re special… because you are. And if that means opening a car door, or when we get there the restaurant door, then that’s how it is. Not because you’re the girl, because damn, there’s no mistaking that,” Tony said, looking Peter up and down again with interest. “But because you’re exceptional… You saved my life just a few days ago and what you had to overcome to put that suit back on makes my mind whirl, but you did it for me.”

Tony rubbed his lips together and took a deep breath, looking away from Peter’s filling eyes.

“Just get in the damn car before, I feel the need to have another emotional outburst,” Tony muttered. Peter smiled.

Peter climbed in the car and sniffed back his emotions, but leaned over and gave Tony a quick kiss on the jaw as soon as he got in.

Tony took Peter to Per Se, and the maître d' showed them to the best table in the house, looking out over Central Park.

After they ordered – Peter picking the only things he recognised the names of – Peter took a sip of water and manage to dribble some on his chin.

“You look nervous,” Tony said, concerned.

“I am nervous,” Peter responded honestly.

“If this is too much we can cancel the order and head home,” Tony said, reaching out to put his hand on Peters’.

“No, no! This is great, I’ve just never been on a date before and there’s a ridiculous amount of cutlery and half the menu was in French and I’m scared everyone is looking and me and wondering what the hell I’m doing with Tony Stark and why did I order soup because I’m bound to spill it down me and-”

“Whoah! Slow down there,” Tony said with a laugh. “They’ll bring you a spoon for the soup, bring you a steak knife for the rib-eye you ordered and they’ll take away the rest. You should have just asked me about the menu, I speak French and if people are looking at you it’s because you’re looking gorgeous in that suit.”

Peter blushed and smiled. “Wait you speak French?”

“I do… which will be handy for when I feel the need to whisk you away to Paris.”

“That sounds amazing. We could have been having sex since I was 15 in France,” Peter pointed out.

“Wow… I think that would have been a bit too early for me…You really did do a lot of research, didn’t you?” Tony said, grinning.

“Enough to know Turkey and the Vatican City are out for the next year,” Peter said with a smirk. “And we can forget about most of Africa and the Caribbean and that’s nothing to do with age. And I was kicking myself for not just jumping you when you took me to Berlin because it’s 14 there.”

“You planned on taking me abroad just to get some action?”

“Yes,” Peter said with a shrug. “Until I realised that law was state based, that is.”

“My evil genius…” Tony praised and Peter laughed.

“So this is your first-first date?” Tony asked.

“Yeah… I wasn’t out at school or anything, and besides I’m too nerdy for anyone to ask me.”

“They’re idiots – Nerdy is hot.”

“It is if you’re also good-looking and have a few billion dollars… I’m skinny and have about forty dollars to my name which I’m likely to spend on Lego.”

“Well, you’ve now got me for all your Lego needs,” Tony responded. “You nervous about later?”

Peter shook his head and blushed as the cutlery was replaced and their starters arrived.

When the waiters had left Peter across at Tony.

“I’m kind of a good nervous… an excited nervous. But I know I’ll be with you so I have nothing to worry about,” Peter admitted.

Tony smiled and then laughed as Peter looked down at the green soup and said, “This terrifies me, though… Will you still want me if I accidently dip my tie in it?”

Three courses later, Peter groaned as he bit into the last chocolate truffle. “Oh my god these are amazing,” Peter moaned out, opening his eyes slowly as the chocolate ganache melted over his tongue.

“What?” Peter asked at seeing the look on Tony’s face.

“Those three truffles have been an act of torture… Do you have any idea how you look when you eat those?” Tony asked, clearly hot and bothered.

Peter bit his lip and smiled, holding the last remaining piece of truffle out to Tony’s lips.

Tony let Peter feed it to him and made a point of swiping his tongue across the pads of Peter’s fingertips and watched Peter’s pupils blow wide.

However, the torture wasn’t over for Tony as he felt a sudden change of texture on Peter’s fingertips.

“Sorry… Sometimes I can’t control that,” Peter said pulling his hand back.

“That was the spidey grip?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t mean to, I just-“

“Hey, don’t apologise, that felt kind of amazing… Touch my hand again?”

Peter ran the pad of his finger across Tony’s palm and saw the shudder it caused.

“Should we get out of here?” Peter suggested, suddenly eager to see if Tony reacted so well to his touch elsewhere.

“Yes… Yes definitely!” Tony said catching the eye of a nearby waiter. “Can we get the bill as soon as possible please… and hey, a bag of those truffles to go.”

“The weather is good, are you happy for me to fly you from here? They let me park a suit on the roof,” Tony asked as the waiter brought the bill and placed a bag of truffles on the table.

“Hmmm, forty minutes of frustration in traffic or five minutes with the suit… let me think about that one,” he said, grinning at Tony.

Tony paid the bill quickly and within minutes they were stepping out onto the roof-top where one of Tony’s suits opened up in readiness.

He stepped in and the suit closed around him.

“Ready to take a ride?” Tony asked as the helmet slid over his face and the helmet’s eye lit.

“You’ve no idea,” Peter said, stepping up and holding onto Tony’s shoulders.

Tony wasted no time in launching, but Tony took the pace easy with his passenger. Peter felt quite safe with his ability to adhere to surfaces and this time, he was able to enjoy the scenery as Tony flew them over the city and to the river. But rather than flying towards the smattering of hotels on the waterfront, Tony brought them down onto the deck of a well-lit super yacht that dominated the little marina it was in.

“A yacht? You have a yacht?” Peter asked, letting go of Tony’s shoulders and looking around at the luxury outdoor seating area and bubbling lit spa.

“I have a few, but this one is just chartered… the hotels on this side of the river weren’t up to my standards,” Tony said, stepping out of his suit.

“It’s enormous! Look at it!”

“Come on, let me take you on a tour,” Tony said, grasping Peter’s hand and pulling the gaping teen into the yacht.

“This is the main saloon,” he said, walking them through a decadently decorated living area with dark leather sofas and rich wooden floors.

“Down there is a gym and movie room, and down those steps are the crew quarters and the kitchen. There’s 2 crew but I’ve let them have the night off… and though here is the bedroom…You like it?”

“Wow, this place is amazing. Love it… and now I know you have yachts I have another interesting research fact for you… Did you know that in international waters the events on board are governed by the laws of the nation which it’s registered in?”

“I’ll have their registrations changed to French first thing tomorrow. But now we need to chat,” Tony said.

“Chat?” Peter said, turning big brown eyes on Tony and motioning to the bed with his hand.

“Yes… come on you horn-dog,” Tony said, leading Peter back out to the saloon.

“You’re not the first person today to call me that today,” Peter said, dragging his heels.

“Do I need to be jealous?”

“Aunt May,” Peter responded with a laugh.

“You told her about our date?”

“Yes. I have a wallet full of condoms at her insistence,” Peter said with a roll of his eyes.

Tony smiled. “I’m glad she took it well.”

“So what’s wrong? We’re on a luxury yacht, moored in New Jersey and you just took me back out of the bedroom… It’s okay to change your mind too, Tony…”

“Change my mind? Not a damn chance! I just want to give you another out before things get steamy in there,” Tony smiled as peter was already shaking his head. “And also to get an idea of what you want.”

“I thought that was obvious… sex… with you,” Peter said confused as Tony pulled him down onto the sofa.

“Well, there’s penetrative sex, there’s non penetrative sex, there might me stuff you know you won’t like and I don’t want to kill the mood or get you flustered, I want to make sure you enjoy tonight.”

“Oh, well, definitely um, penetrative,” Peter said, feeling awkward saying the word.

Tony licked his lips. “And are you a top, bottom, switch, don’t know yet?”

“What are you?” Peter asked, seemingly flummoxed by the question.

“I’ve done both but mainly top… but either for you,” Tony said, reaching out to stroke Peter’s cheek.

“Wow… I’d kinda just assumed. But I think I want be on the erm… on the bottom. Is that okay?” Peter asked.

“That’s very okay… come here,” Tony said, pulling Peter towards him with this tie and into a kiss.

As soon as their lips touched, Peter pressed closer, winding his arms around Tony’s neck and sinking his hands into his hair.

The teen’s kiss was rough and eager and while it lacked finesse Tony wouldn’t want it any other way. He knew tonight would be Peter’s first time, but knowing tonight had been his first date made the night even more special. For all the horrors the boy had been through he still seemed so pure, sweet and untainted.

Peter moaned into his mouth as Tony started licking and biting the teen’s lips and Peter climbed into his lap and straddled him in an attempt for more contact.

“Oh yeah,” Tony breathed against Peter’s mouth as the new position allowed his hands access to Peter’s tight, rounded ass which he palmed through Peter’s suit pants.

Peter seemingly saw this as a sign they were wearing too many clothes and started pushing Tony’s suit jacket off his shoulders. Tony reciprocated and ran his hands over Peter’s lean torso, across his back and then back down to the globes of his ass.

Tony gripped hold of Peter and turned them, pushing the teen down onto the sofa and sliding a hand down to press against Peter’s very interested clothed cock.

Tony silenced the moan with a kiss then moved again, dropping down onto his knees and moving Peter’s legs so he was back in a sitting position.

Tony palmed Peter’s cock through his trousers and licked his lips, leaving no doubt as to what he intended.

Peter’s reaction was to still, a look of awe on his face as Tony Stark slowly undid his belt, popped open the button and slid down the zipper of his trousers, all while maintaining eye contact.

Peter was breathing heavily, a flush of bright red on his cheeks as Tony dragged down the trousers and underwear enough for Peter’s cock to spring free.

He held his breath as Tony leaned in and ran wet lips up the side of his erection, kissing and giving little licks as he went. When he got to the head he licked against the wet slit, encouraging out more precome.

“You taste so fucking good,” Tony ground out before taking Peter fully into his mouth. Peter inhaled sharply at the wetness and heat from Tony’s mouth and the visual image of the man he’d had a crush on since puberty swallowing his cock.

Peter’s hand’s automatically came to Tony’s hair then let go, not sure where it was polite to put them, but Tony’s hand brought his back to his head and Peter let himself relax.

“Oh god Tony, this is so good…”Peter moaned, slumping back into the sofa and letting Tony suck and lick and swallow until Peter sensed his orgasm building. 

Hands gripped in Tony’s hair. “I’m gonna… Tony…”

Tony pulled away for a moment, keeping the stimulation going with this hand.

“You’re young, you’ve got more than one in you tonight, let it go… let me taste you.”

And with that Tony swallowed Peter back down and doubled his efforts, making Peter cry out his name.

Within twenty seconds, Peter was babbling – moans interspersed with curses and calls to a god in equal measure, fingers fisting in Tony’s hair.

A sharp cry sounded his release and Peter’s body contracted, his stomach and thigh muscles all tensing as he released into Tony’s mouth. Tony swallowed him down as far as he could, knowing the constriction of his throat would milk Peter’s climax and the teen shuddered in ecstasy, reaping the benefits of Tony’s mis-spent youth.

When Peter sagged back into the sofa, Tony gently pulled off him, cleaning up the last remnants of Peter’s release gently with his tongue. He looked up to find Peter still looking down at him, but this time with a wrecked look about him, his mouth still open and panting. Tony felt quite pleased with himself.

He carefully tucked Peter back into his pants, edged closer and leaned over his prone body for a kiss. Peter kissed him back readily, but this time Peter’s kiss had more sensuality to it, rather than the raw eagerness of before.

“Wow, thank you,” Peter said and Tony pulled back from the kiss. “I think you melted my brain a little there…”

“Shall we head for the bedroom?” Tony asked, peppering kisses along Peter’s jaw.

“Yeah… Can I do the same for you?”

Tony stood up, pulling his young lover to his feet.

“We can do a little of that but sadly, I’m not sixteen and I want to hold out for the main event,” Tony answered as he to pull him to the bedroom.

As soon as they were inside, Tony grasped hold of Peter and lifted him up as he kissed him, before depositing him on the bed as Peter giggled.

“You’re wearing way too many clothes,” Tony judged, pulling off Peter’s shoes and socks, before moving up to Peter’s trousers again.

Peter struggled to help him, and as soon as they hit the bedroom floor Peter was sitting up, his fingers clawing at Tony’s belt buckle.

“So much for peeling you out of this suit, this is more like ripping,” Tony said as he urgently pulled at Peter’s tie knot, however his hands dropped to his sides as soon as Peter slipped a hand inside his trousers, wrapping a hand around Tony’s cock for the first time.

“I have a trick I want to show you,” Peter said shyly.

“A trick?” Tony asked. “This is a great trick,” he said as Peter stroked his length.

Peter shook his head and stilled his hand. He closed his eyes and concentrated, and Tony looked down at him quizzically.

“Holy fucking god!” Tony said a moment later as he felt it.

The intense sensation he’d felt from the spider-grip on the tip of Peter’s finger earlier was clearly something that covered his whole palm, and more than that, Peter was somehow turning the effect on and off in a rippling wave across his hand.

Tony’s legs felt like they’d buckle beneath him and he brought himself down onto the bed, pushing off his own trousers and shoes as he went.

“Jesus, that’s amazing!” Tony said, looking down at Peter’s motionless hand.

“I discovered the ability to control it a couple of weeks after I got bitten. I swear, I hardly left my room for days,” Peter said with an embarrassed smile.

Tony moaned again and started unbuttoning Peter’s shirt, pulling it off his shoulders and leaving it hanging on Peter’s right arm, reluctant to cause Peter to let go.

Despite the amazing sensation, Tony noticed the way Peter held his arms as soon as they were bared, as though shielding Tony’s eyes from the lingering, now light pink scars that were there.

In distraction, he started kissing Peter’s neck as he dragged off his own tie and then his shirt, helped by Peter’s other hand.

“I can change the speed to,” Peter teased, increasing the ripple effect on his hand. Tony gasped and dropped his head into Peter’s neck.

“I don’t want you to stop, but you need to stop… before it’s too late,” Tony begged.

Peter let go and grinned at Tony’s reaction, confidence boosted at the state Tony was in.

“That skill must give the world’s best prostate massage,” Tony commented as he propped himself on one arm and took a couple of deep breaths.

“Prostate massage? What’s that?” Peter asked innocently, pulling the shirt off his wrist and lying back down on the bed.

Tony grinned. “Well in that case I’ve got a trick for you too… But first let me see you, you gorgeous thing.”

Tony sat up and straddled Peter’s naked thighs; running is hands up and down Peter’s body.

Peter tentatively explored Tony’s bared skin in turn, running his fingers across Tony’s shoulders and biceps, the feel of the muscle there turning him on.

“Can I touch?” Peter asked, lightly touching Tony’s pectoral, looking at the glowing reactor and then back up at Tony.

“Sure, baby. Scars don’t hurt,” Tony said, lifting Peter’s wrist to his mouth and kissing down the scar there before bringing Peter’s fingertips to the ragged edge of the reactor housing. Peter looked moved by Tony’s kiss and touched the reactor and the surrounding scar tissue reverently.

“I suppose without our scars neither of us would be here now… I would have this… I wouldn’t have you,” Peter said softly, stills running his hands across Tony’s chest.

“Then I’m glad we have them,” Tony responded pulling Peter up by the single item of clothing he still wore, his loosened tie, and kissing him deeply.

“I didn’t realise I still had the tie on,” Peter giggled when Tony pulled back.

“Leave it on. After all you worked so hard to keep the soup off it,” Tony joked.

Peter rolled his eyes and went to start unknotting it but Tony stilled his hand. “Leave it on,” he said more seriously. “It’s pushing buttons.”

Peter pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and Tony felt the need to reel him back in with the tie again. Biting that lip was his job.

Kissing slowly turned to mutual groping, which in turn moved onto frotting, with Peter moaning at the glorious feeling of Tony’s body-weight over sliding over him, their movement slicked with precome.

“Okay… I think it’s time to show you my trick now,” Tony said pulling away and reaching over to the bedside cabinet. He pulled out lube and a condom, throwing the condom on the bed and settled on his side next to Peter.

“Stay on you back, baby,” Tony said, rubbing a hand over Peter’s renewed erection. Peter continued to run his hands over Tony’s shoulders and arms and Tony was getting inkling that Peter had a thing for his biceps. Perhaps it was time to dig out those old tank vests.

He popped open the lube and smeared some on the tip of a finger before slipping it between Peter’s legs.

“Open up for me baby,” Tony cooed and Peter’s legs fell apart as if on command.

“If you touch yourself and push out as I push in, it’ll be easier,” Tony said, smearing the finger across the entrance to Peter’s body.

He kissed Peter slowly and softly as he slowly and carefully breached Peter’s virgin body, stilling his efforts as Peter stopped kissing, and instead breathed into his mouth.

“Keep going,” Peter gasped into Tony’s mouth, but his body was clamped tight around his finger. Too tight.

Tony had thought about this moment all day, since they’d gotten together to be honest, and while half of those thoughts had been erotic sexual fantasy, the rest had been a determination to make this first time good. 

He thought back to his first time receiving anal sex – some vague time as a freshman, seeing a drummer from some band he now couldn’t remember the name of. Both of them high on coke and alcohol… it had been rough and painful, drugs and booze getting him through the experience.

He’d only learned much later that it could be good, it could be pleasurable.

Tony wanted Peter’s first time to be special, amazing… loving – and above all, pain-free.

“Let me do something first, baby,” Tony said, slowly easing his finger away.

“Can you turn over for me, Pete?” Tony asked.

“Is something wrong? It’s okay, I can-” Peter started anxiously before Tony interrupted.

“Baby, nothing’s wrong, you’re perfect. There’s just something I want to do first,” Tony said, coaxing Peter onto his knees.

As soon as he steadied the teen he wasted no time. “Just grab that pillow if you need it and just let yourself enjoy this, because I’m going to,” Tony said, he gently parting Peter’s cheeks with his hands and running his tongue directly over Peter’s hole.

Tony grabbed Peter’s hips to stop the teen pulling away as he whimpered in a high pitch voice. “Tony!” Peter exclaimed, sounding scandalised.

“Just enjoy!” Tony responded with a laugh before flicking his tongue back and forth over the teen’s fluttering entrance.

“Oh, god… but it’s your tongue… THERE! Isn’t that dirty?” Peter asked before making another whimpering sound.

Tony pulled back for a second and blew over the wet pucker, watching it constrict delightfully.

“You taste clean, baby. And soft and pink and fucking gorgeous – I’m going to spend tomorrow morning with you sat on my face,” Tony promised before diving back in and getting a long drawn out moan from Peter.

As advised, Peter grabbed a pillow and pressed his red face into it, allowing it to muffle another moan as he felt the tip of Tony’s tongue wiggle inside him. It felt amazing, dirty, glorious and embarrassing all at once.

As Tony kept alternating between lapping and wiggling his tongue across his hole and pressing the wet muscle inside to the point Peter felt like he was being fucked by Tony’s tongue.

What was worse was that Peter couldn’t seem to shut himself up, whining and groaning like he was in death-throes. And despite Tony’s assurances, he felt slightly depraved when he realised he was unconsciously pushing back into Tony’s face.

Yet it felt too damn good to stop - Tony was getting deeper and deeper with his tongue stretching him open. Then a finger joined it, tongue flickering around the rim as the finger slid inside, the harness of the finger rather than the tongue making the glorious sensation more intense.

“That feel okay, baby?”

“God, yes… Tony, more…” Peter moaned, needy more than ashamed and making Tony feel delightfully smug.

“Turn on your back again, sweetheart. I want to see your face,” Tony asked, helping Peter wriggle back into their previous position.

Tony applied some more lube to his fingers and slid one back inside Peter to a welcoming moan. He began kissing Peter’s jaw and Peter turned his head, bringing their mouths back together again in a messy, unfocused kiss.

Now in the right position, tony curled his finger and quickly located the firm nub of Peter’s prostate and circled it lightly. Again Peter stopped kissing, but this time moaned loudly into his mouth.

“Tony!” Peter gasped.

“You like my trick, then?” Tony asked, rubbing across it lightly and slowly building pressure.

“Oh, god, it’s so good. I want more…”

“Greedy boy,” Tony teased, slowly pulling out and very gently adding another finger.

Peter grasped his cock in response and started to stroke himself starting to kiss Tony again as the stretch increased.

“Okay?” Tony checked, as his fingers sunk inside Peter’s tight heat.

“It’s good,” Peter gasped out, as Tony started to flex his fingers, stroking over the teen’s prostate as slowly increased the speed. “So good…”

Rather than adding a third finger, Tony opted to spread open his fingers, stretching his young lover more gently, and before long, Peter was actually pushing back, trying to get Tony’s fingers deeper and faster.

“Think you’re ready for more, baby?”

Peter nodded and slipped that bottom lip back between his teeth giving him a look of coy innocence that stirred both arousal and protectiveness in Tony.

Tony slipped his fingers out of Peter’s body and knelt up, moving to between Peter’s spread legs.

“Pass me that pillow,” Tony asked. “Let me slide it under your hips… It will make the angle easier for you… and help me hit that trick-spot again,” Tony said with a wink as Peter shuffled his hips on the pillow.

Grabbing the condom from the bed he ripped it open with his teeth and slid it on as Peter watched intently. He poured a generous amount of lube over his cock and rubbed it along the shaft delighted at how hungry Peter still looked.

Tony rubbed more lube along the crease of Peter ass, then up his balls and stroked his cock a few times, eliciting a groan from his young lover.

“God, look at you.” Tony leaned over Peter’s body and grabbed his tie with the other hand, tugging him into a kiss.

“Oh what a shame, I got lube all over your nice clean tie,” Tony said with a grin, pulling back and letting Peter sink back to the bed.

“You dick,” Peter laughed, but groaned again when Tony rubbed the tip of his erection across his entrance.

“Touch yourself again, baby,” Tony asked, letting go of Peter’s cock for him to take over. Tony steadied himself on one of Peter’s hips and guided his cock to press against Peter’s hole.

He made eye contact with Peter as he pressed forward and breached Peter’s body, taking his virginity. Peter’s mouth parted and he inhaled but didn’t show any signs of pain. He pushed in slightly deeper and then pulled out an inch, before slowly sinking back further.

“Okay?” Tony checked as he repeated the process, sinking deeper still into Peter’s tight body.

“Yeah… Just intense,” Peter breathed as Tony pushed in the whole way.

“Pete, you feel so damn good… Fuck…” Tony gasped.

Tony stilled, but Peter was having none of that, grabbing at Tony’s hip to urge him to move.

Tony flexed his hips in a roll, starting a slow rhythm that made Peter gasp his name and arch his body. As soon as he was sure Peter wasn’t in any discomfort, he sped up and was rewarded by Peter grasping for him, hands coming again to his biceps as he moaned.

Tony braced himself on the bed and leaned over Peter’s prone form for a kiss, keeping up the thrusts as he did. The kiss was messy and clumsy and teeth clashed, but it was perfect.

Peter seemed to get more and more frantic the more aroused he got, pawing at Tony’s shoulders and neck, bucking up to get Tony deeper into his body and Peter nearly ripped hair out of his head when he bent over to tease a nipple with his mouth.

Nipping Peter’s neck with his teeth seemed to open a floodgate, and Peter’s mouth was on him, taking control of the kiss, nibbling down his jaw and giving a light bite to his shoulder while dragging nails down his back.

Tony was enraptured, the coy sixteen year old virgin was turning out to be a wild-cat in bed. Tony loved this kind of hot, fun sex.

He pushed Peter down onto his cock and grabbed him by the hip and shoulder.

“Hang on to me,” Tony directed as he flipped them over so that he was lying on the bed and Peter was straddled atop him.

“Fuck, yes!” Peter gasped, delighted with the new position. “Oh, god, you’re so deep in me.” 

Peter braced his hands on Tony’s pecs and stated to bounce; the kid’s super-strength allowing him to pull almost off Tony entirely before pushing back down at a pace Tony wouldn’t have been able to manage.

With Tony’s hand moving to Peter’s hip to keep him steady, Peter reached for his own cock and started to fist himself hard and fast.

“Fuck, Tony… I’m gonna… Can I come?”

“Yeah, baby, come for me,” Tony gasped back, looking down at the reddened, slick cock being fisted in Peter’s tight grip.

A second later, Peter’s back snapped into an arch, Peter’s abs, chest and arm muscles all in stark relief as he went taut in climax. Tony watched mesmerised as Peter’s release splashed over his stomach, the next pulse splattered across his chest and over his reactor and his own neck arched back at the feel of Peter ass flutter and clench around him.

It was almost… almost enough to make him come.

Peter shuddered a few more times then went limp and Tony sat up with Peter still impaled on his lap. He ignored the mess between them and held him, caressing his cheek as Peter reopened his eyes.

“Baby, you’re amazing – just so damn beautiful,” Tony cooed, meaning every word. He kissed Peter softly, trying to ignore his own hardness, still twitching in Peter’s tight channel – at least until the teen had recovered.

Peter, however was recovering fast and realising Tony hadn’t come yet.

“Tony, you’re still hard,” Peter said, guiltily.

“It’s okay-” Tony began to say but Peter was already pulling off him, making Tony whimper with the loss of heat and constriction on his cock.

That was replaced a moment later as Peter pulled off the condom and sank his mouth onto Tony’s cock.

It was by no means the most elegant or experienced head Tony had ever received, but it was enthusiastic and when Tony looked down and saw his cock being sucked into Peter’s pretty face beat any previous experience hands down.

Peter tried his best to take Tony’s cock into his throat and choked a little before bobbing up and down and trying again. It was all too much for Tony, and with tears streaking down his temples, Tony shuddered his climax into Peter’s mouth, his white knuckled grip fisting the sheets in an effort not to grasp his fingers into Peter’s hair.

In the moments that followed, Tony whited out – not something he done for a long time and when he came to he lay on his back trying to remember how to breathe.

But then Peter’s flushed, sweaty face appeared with a happy grin. The boy looked debauched and there was some of Tony’s come on his cheek.

“Bleah, Latex… Did I do okay?” Peter asked, oblivious to how mind-blown Tony was.

“That was amazing,” Tony answered honestly.

“I got a bit carried away there…I didn’t realise sex was so good!” Peter admitted.

Tony started to laugh. If only the kid knew – this was the best sex this billionaire playboy had ever had.

“God, I love you,” Tony said, gathering the teen in his arms.

“That was amazing… I don’t’ want to leave New Jersey,” Peter admitted. “I don’t want to have to not… kiss you. Not when I know how good it feels.”

“I’ve got the yacht for the week at the moment, but have an option to extend it… for say… four months?”

“Until we can have sex in your bed?”

“Yeah, I mean the Tower could do with some refurb after everything that’s happened… We need somewhere to stay for that time,”

“Makes sense,” Peter agreed, logically, but then grinned. “So we have a sex-yacht?”

Tony grinned and raised his come-covered left hand from his chest. “A sex-yacht with a hot-tub… come on,” Tony said, grabbing his young lover to his feet.

The night was by no means over.


End file.
